Panthers fight hard and get conference win in league opener
<p>Senior Natasha Ball was instrumental in the win against Granite.</p>
The Alberton Lady Panther Basketball team faced off against two teams this week, including county rival Superior as well as Granite County.
On Thursday, the Superior Bobcats arrived in Alberton and according to Head Coach Jim Baldwin the game was a “hard fought battle.”
“We played well for the first 12 minutes of the game,” Coach Baldwin said. “But the constant pressure by Superior was relentless and our kids struggled as the game went on.”
The pressure from the Bobcats got the Panthers down by 30 points and Superior Head Coach Jeff Schultz kept the pressure up on defense in order to keep the ball out of the hands of Ryan Vicek and Delani Hanley – who primarily handle the ball and run the offense.
“Even though we were outmanned I was proud of the way our girls played and never gave up until the final buzzer,” Coach Baldwin said.
Leading the way for the Panthers was Vicek with 10 points, Kaitlyn Galahan with nine and Hanley with five.
The final score was 68-28 Superior.
On Saturday the Granite County Prospectors headed to Alberton for the Panthers first conference game of the season.
Alberton jumped out to an 11-point lead early and was able to stretch the lead to 15 by half.
The Prospectors would not go quietly however and scraped back into the game to cut the lead to three points. However the Lady Panthers kept up their pace on offense and came out with a 52-40 victory.
Vicek led the Panthers with 19 points. Taylor Erdman had 13, Galahan and Hanley each has seven and Natasha Ball and Hailie Bahm each had three.
“I was really proud of the way our kids played,” Coach Baldwin said. “Vicek had an outstanding game with a total effort – holding Granite star Anna Pence to two points. Pence had been averaging 22-points a game and her (Vicek’s) defense was the difference.”
Coach Baldwin also mentioned Taylor Erdman had her “best game of the year” and Galahan, Hanley, Bahm and Ball “contributed a great deal to a total team victory.”
The Panthers faced Seeley at home on Monday and will head to Lincoln on Thursday to play their final game before the Christmas break.