Don't let the final score of 67-50 fool you, the NRHEG girls basketball team did not simply walk through Medford Tuesday night in the opening round of the Subsection 2 playoffs.
A sloppy game, with more than 30 fouls between the two teams, saw momentum swing to the Panthers early after they opened up an early 12-0 lead.
On one particular sequence, Faith Nielsen was fouled on three consecutive possessions resulting in free throws each time.
The Panthers led 30-19 after a controversial foul call resulted in 3 free throws attempts from the Tiger’s with 0:00s showing on the clock.
In the second half, the Tigers clawed their way back to within five points.
However, a Sophie Stork three-pointer ended the Tiger run four minutes into the second half. The rest of the way the Panthers outscored the Tigers by a margin of roughly 3-2.
“Tonight was a great game,” NRHEG head coach Onika Peterson said. “We had an awesome home court advantage with such a fun student section. Medford is a good team with a couple of heavy hitters.”
As for the performance of her players, Peterson said she was happy with the overall communication and defense. “We’re still looking to work the ball on offense and have a little more patience.”
In her final home game of her career, Senior Sophie Stork led the Panthers in scoring with 19 points, followed by Faith Nielsen and Erin Jacobson each with 14.
Also scoring for the Panthers were: Preslie Nielsen, 9; Sidney Schultz 8, Hallie Schultz 2, and Quinn VanMaldeghem 1.
The Panthers play Waterville Thursday night at Mankato East Highschool at approximately 7:45 p.m.