Lady Panthers take third place
Nick Ianniello
Mineral Independent
The Alberton Lady Panthers finished up their season in third place after the Western District 13 – C tournament at the Sister Rita Activity Center in Missoula last week.
“I think that we were playing some of our best basketball which is where we wanted to be,” said Lady Panthers Head Coach Erik Johnson. “Unfortunately we didn’t finish in the top two which was one of our goals, but we played some good basketball and we’re proud of what we did.”
The Lady Panthers lost their first game of the tournament against Philipsburg, 48 – 37.
The Lady Panthers kept the scores close for the whole game, with Philipsburg outscoring Alberton 9 – 12 in the first quarter and 10 – 13 in the second quarter.
The Lady Panthers struck back in the third quarter, outscoring Philipsburg 9 – 3 and tying up the game 28 – 28 heading into the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for the Lady Panthers Philipsburg played a tough fourth quarter, outscoring them 20 – 9 for a 48 – 37 win early in the tournament.
Lyndi Ishler led the Lady Panthers in scoring with 18 points during the first game.
Friday evening the Lady Panthers faced off against the Arlee Lady Scarlets for a 56 – 47 win.
The Lady Panthers took a 9 – 7 lead in the first quarter, and did not let up for the rest of the game.
They outscored the Lady Scarlets 14 – 10 in the second to head into the second half with a 23 – 17 lead.
In the third quarter the Lady Scarlets matched Lady Panthers point for point with both teams scoring 14 points, but the Lady Panthers took back control of the game in the fourth quarter outscoring the Lady Scarlets 19 – 16.
Shler led the team in scoring again with 20 points, followed by Jordan Marvin with 16 points and Jenna Rausch with 11 points.
On Saturday Alberton faced off against the Victor Lady Pirates for third place in the tournament.
Alberton took an early lead in the game, outscoring the Lady Pirates 19 – 6 in the first quarter and 14 – 4 in the second quarter for a 33 – 10 lead at the half.
The Lady Panthers continued their domination of the game into the third quarter by outscoring the Lady Pirates 24 – 4, but allowed themselves to be beaten 15 – 4 in the fourth quarter for a 61 – 31 win.
Ishler led the team once agin in scoring with 16 points while Rausch racked up 13 points of her own.
The Alberton Lady Panthers finished the season with a 13 – 7 record, and while they will not be continuing on to the divisional tournament next weekend, Johnson said he thought they have had a strong season.
“I think the rest of the teams did an excellent job and they were playing some tough basketball too,” Johnson said about last week’s tournament.