By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

Many coaches in the St. Louis area would love to be in Ed Feibig’s shoes.

Feibig, the Mehlville Senior High School girls’ basketball coach, was quick to point out the many mistakes his team made, though the 5-0 Panthers defeated the Affton Cougers 45-26 last week.

“We really didn’t play that well,” Feibig said. “I thought that we played really sloppy, had a lot of turnovers and a lot of un-forced errors. When a team’s playing the zone and not putting a lot of pressure on you, then you shouldn’t have 14 turnovers.”

Mehlville committed 14 turnovers against Affton and shot 3-10 from the free-throw line, which easily could have spelled doom for the Panthers. Another glaring statistic was the fact that the Panthers uncharacteristically were out rebounded 34-33 by Affton.

Christa Sorum led the Panthers in scoring with 12 points and one assist. The sophomore guard was on fire from behind the three-point line as she nailed four of six shots from three-point range.

“I think that she (Sorum) is one of the better three-point shooters on the team,” Feibig said. “She hit three of them in about 45 seconds.”

Right behind Sorum was the tandem of sophomores Alyse and Kayla Gordon who had eight points each.

Kayla Gordon added to her eight-point performance with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. The sophomore guard currently is averaging 9.4 points and 4.4 rebounds a game this season.

Her sister Alyse also had a solid evening that included four rebounds, one steal and one assist to compliment her eight points against Affton. The sophomore forward has been averaging 7.2 points and 3.8 rebounds a game, while racking up a total of nine assists and nine steals this season.

Up next for the Panthers is a tough match Friday at home against a highly touted Lindbergh squad. The Flyers currently are 5-1 with their lone loss of the season being a 59-57 defeat at the hands of Hazelwood West.

Lindbergh is led offensively by senior guard Amy Hake, who’s leading the Suburban West Conference with 18.3 points per game along with a total of 36 steals.

The Flyers also are brutal to their opponents on the backboards with junior center Meaghan Endicott (8.8 points per game, 9.3 rebounds per game) and senior forward Paula Smith (9.2 ppg., 5.5 rpg.) serving up action under the basket.

“Lindbergh is a team that’s able to handle great pressure,” Feibig explained. “What we’ve really got to do is try to contain Hake and Smith. We need to keep Paula (Smith) off the boards and Amy (Hake) from taking a shot.”

The Panthers Suburban West Conference showdown with the Flyers is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.