Lady Panthers land win

The Alberton girls claimed their first win of the season last week in a game against county rival St. Regis. The Lady Panthers came out strong and shut off the Lady Tigers from the basket with a secure defense.

In the first quarter, the Lady Panthers ended with a strong lead, 12-2. By halftime, they had added ten more points to their total, while their opponents remained on the board with only four.

“I thought we played very good defense,” Coach Jim Baldwin said.

The Lady Panthers didn’t let the Tigers get close during the entire game. They were quick on offense and moved the ball well, landing well in the 30s before the Lady Tigers even saw ten points. Baldwin attributed their success to the first opening games of the season.

“It’s sort of what happens when you play a tough schedule at the start,” he said.

The starters were given a rest during the fourth quarter when Baldwin switched them out to get the younger girls some experience. The Lady Panthers finished the game with a huge lead, 43-20.

“I was pleased with getting our first victory in there,” Baldwin said, “but we know there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Krysta Henley scored five points, Andi Clark scored nine and Hailie Bahm scored two. Dani Hanley led with 16 points and Jenna Rausch wasn’t far behind with 11.

After their win on Thursday, the girls played Drummond at home on Saturday.

“This is the best team we will play all year and we knew that going in,” Baldwin said. “They have so many good players and so much depth on the bench. It was definitely a struggle from the start.”

The girls lost by fifty points and going into the game, Baldwin said that they talked a lot about not being intimidated.

“And I thought we weren’t,” Baldwin said. “The only problem is we made too many mistakes. I also felt like I didn’t do a good enough job coaching and I need to make some better adjustments…the girls were visibly upset after the game. They had gotten beat, but they didn’t get down on themselves or their teammates.”

Baldwin said that now that the game against Drummond is over, they aren’t even focusing on this last week of basketball, but looking forward to this week. They played Victor on Tuesday in an away game and play Granite on Wednesday in an away game.

“They’re both teams that we are more than capable of competing against,” Baldwin said, “but it’s not going to be easy games either.”

Baldwin said that it will come down to whether or not the team plays to their potential.

“If we do play to our potential, we have a good chance of being successful. But if we don’t play to our potential, we won’t be,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin said he’s looking forward to playing both teams. He said that he believes they are more where they currently are, though he knows they could have improved from last year. The girls will be focusing on improving in a few areas this week as they look to play the two teams.

“We’ll work on playing a better defense and work a bit more on having patience on offense,” Baldwin said. “That’s something that we still struggle on and part of it is just them getting used to what I want them to do. But every week, they come out with great attitudes and work hard. We’re not focusing on one game, but the whole season and that’s all you can do.”