By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

After two more wins last week, the Mehlville Senior High girls’ basketball team is perched atop the Suburban West Conference standings with a 9-0 overall record.

The Panthers had a three-week break from competition before beating conference rival Marquette 53-46 Jan.6.

Mehlville grabbed an early 12-4 lead and garnered a 26-17 advantage at halftime.

“We jumped on them (Marquette) early in the first quarter,” Panther’s head coach Ed Feibig told the Call. “It was pretty much an even game after that.”

Feibig said Marquette catered to his team’s up-tempo style of play.

“They pressed full-court and I like when teams do that because my kids really like to play a fast game,” Feibig said.

The Panthers racked up 17 points in the second half to clinch the victory.

Three players scored in double figures for the Panthers. Michelle Senf led the onslaught with 13 points and 17 rebounds

The junior forward is averaging 12.3 points and 10.3 re-bounds a game this season.

“She (Senf) is just a rebound machine,” Feibig said. “She was just wonderful in that game.”

The Panthers Alyse Gordon followed Senf with 12 points, two rebounds and one assist. The sophomore forward is averaging 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds a game this season and is second on the team with 13 assists and five blocked shots.

“Both of the Gordons (Alyse and her sister Kayla) always have strong games for us,” Feibig said. “She (Alyse Gordon) shot the ball pretty good and did a great job on defense.”

Rounding out Mehlville’s scoring trio was Rachel Heet with 10 points and four steals. Heet reached double figures by draining six straight free-throws in the final minute and a half of the game.

“I got on her in practice because she was shooting 50 percent from the free-throw line,” Feibig said. “But she reminded me that she had only taken two free-throw shots this season. She then goes and hits six straight free-throws in the final minute and a half of the Marquette game.”

After their conference win over Mar-quette, the Panthers turned around the following night and handed Northwest a 60-37 thumping, which happened to be Mehlville’s second largest margin of victory this season. Their largest margin of victory was a 59-35 pounding of Pattonville on Dec. 7.

“We pretty much dominated them (North-west),” Feibig said. “They came out and pressed and as soon as they did that, we put up a bunch of points.”

Senf led all scorers with 27 points, 11 rebounds, three blocked shots, two steals and two assists.

Mehlville’s Kayla Gordon also scored in double figures with 11 points, two assists, one steal and one rebound. Kayla Gordon is averaging 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds a game this season and is third on the team in blocked shots with 3.

The Panthers play host to the Summit Falcons at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a non-conference match.

“It’s actually one of those games that really scares me,” Feibig said. “The kids look at their record online and see that they have a losing record. You just worry that we won’t take them seriously.”

Summit is 4-8 overall and dropped a 41-11 decision to Parkway West last Friday.

Summit is led by senior forward Amanda Organ’s 9.4 points per game and senior forward Whitney Thompson’s six rebounds a game.

Despite the losing record, the Falcons have been playing well lately, winning three of their last five games.