By MARK DOMEIER
Contributing Writer
The NRHEG Lady Panther basketball team wrapped up their regular season last week with three games. They started on Feb. 18 in a make-up game on the road versus USC. After spotting the Rebels a 9-0 lead, the Panthers were forced to climb out of another hole. It "was not our best game, but the girls never gave up," said Coach Onika Peterson. The Panthers cut the lead to 24-19 by the half. And then the fun really began.
The visitors roared to a 7-point lead partway through the second half, taking their first lead with about 7 minutes left. However, USC fought back in their own right, and a furious final two minutes saw the score tied at 51. The Rebels raced to a 7-point lead of their own in the extra session, but the Panthers were resilient behind the efforts of Alexis Anderson. She canned a pair of 3-pointers and scored the winning bucket on a put-back with less than 30 seconds remaining. A final defensive stand by the Panthers sealed the deal for a 67-65 win.
Anderson checked all the boxes with 17 points, 5 rebounds, a steal, 2 assists, and a block. Sophie Stork added 12 points, 6 boards, 3 steals, and an assist. Darian Pearson had yet another double-double with 11 points, 14 rebounds, a steal, and an assist. Caitlin Goette, Sidney Schultz, and Hannah Budach each had 9 points; Goette added 7 boards, a steal, and a block while Schultz grabbed 4 rebounds, had 4 steals, and dished out 7 assists and Budach snared 4 boards. Sarah Johns grabbed 5 rebounds, had three assists, a block, and a charge taken. Kendall Johnson tallied a rebound and an assist.
Feb. 19 found the Panthers back at home against section foe Blue Earth. A back-and-forth game found the Panthers and Buccaneers trading leads until a two-minute stretch in the second half had the home team on their heels, leading to a 64-57 loss. "The girls competed the whole game, played tough physical defense, rebounded well, and attacked the basket," commented Peterson. The biggest difference was at the free throw line where the Panthers were 4-11 while Blue Earth was 31-39. Plus, fans got to see Caitlin Rorman from Blue Earth score her 2000th career point.
Stork blazed a trail by scoring 27 points to go with 2 steals and an assist. Anderson totaled 15 points with 2 assists. Schultz contributed 5 points, 4 steals, and 8 assists. Goette and Budach each had 3 points with Goette adding an assist and Budach dishing out 2 assists along with a steal. Pearson had 2 points, 2 steals, and an assist while Johns scored 2 points to go with an assist.
The final regular season game was in New Richland on Feb. 21 against LCWM. Just like a previous meeting, the Panthers roared to a big lead in the first half, up by as many as 15, before letting the Knights whittle away before the half, down only 39-31. The second half was a tremendous defensive showing by LCWM as they put on full-court pressure and went on a 16-0 run to start the half. The Panthers only scored 14 second-half points en route to a 65-53 loss.
Schultz led with 17 points along with 9 rebounds and a steal. Stork was close behind with 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals. Pearson added up to 7 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 steals while Budach had 6 points and 3 boards. Anderson added 4 points and 5 rebounds while Goette snared 13 rebounds. Jayna Domeier nailed a 3-pointer and had a block. Other stats included Johns with 3 boards, Johnson with a rebound, Cloie Arndt with a steal, and Cassidy Martin making her first varsity appearance with a rebound and an assist.
NRHEG finished the regular season with a record of 9-17, 6-8 in the Gopher Conference. They played the undefeated Medford Tigers on the road Tuesday night in the first round of the playoffs.