Lady Panthers split games

After a week of practice, the Alberton girls will be back on the courts this week playing against Seeley and Hot Springs. But before they took a week to hone their skills during Christmas break, the girls faced defeat against Victor, losing 38-41, but netted a victory against Phillipsburg.

Coming out of the first quarter in the game against Victor, the girls were tied 9-9. But from there, they would be outscored in the second and third quarters, entering the fourth quarter behind, 25-36. In the final frame of the game however, the Lady Panthers put on the pressure with a full court press in an attempt to take the lead away from the Pirates. They ended up falling short.

“We did everything we wanted to, but when it came down to it, we took 60 shots and only made 10,” Coach Jim Baldwin said. “If we had shot to our capability we definitely would have won. They were good shots too. We just couldn’t find the basket.”

The girls, however, shut down one of Victor’s main scorers, Liz Taylor, one of their goals.

Krysta Henley scored three, Andy Clark shot nine points, Dani Hanley led with a huge total of 16, Jenna Rausch scored nine and Mariah Turnbull added one.

At Phillipsburg, however, the girls came out on top. They we down by one point in the first quarter, 9-10, but came back in the second to secure the lead. They went into halftime ahead, 20-12.

“We had pretty good defense and shot a little better,” Baldwin said. “Once we were up about nine points, we stayed there the whole game.”

They ended up beating Phillipsburg 36-27. Hanley scored 16 points and Rausch added 12 points and 12 rebounds as Alberton improved to 1-2, 2-4. Baldwin added that they were scoring better and had a good game.

During practice over break, the Lady Panthers worked on both the zone defense and man-to-man defense.

Baldwin said that when he looked at it on paper, he felt that the girls had a good chance of being three and three after Christmas break and had they won against Victor, they would be there.

The Lady Panthers play Seeley on Thursday this week. Baldwin said he thinks it will be a good test. The team has Hot Springs at home on Saturday.