Dan Eyrich, AP Sports
The Lady Panther basketball team had turned a corner going 5-8 since the beginning of January after having just two wins in their previous thirteen games. Their thrilling comeback win over Morrison in their opening round IHSA Regional game on Saturday showed just how much they have improved down the stretch of the season. That momentum pointed to a potential close regional semi-final game with Riverdale who had handled EP by 26 and 18 points respectively in their two meetings during the season. In fact the Lady Panthers gave the Lady Rams all they wanted for three quarters before Riverdale went on a scoring run in the fourth quarter to secure a spot in the regional championship game with a 48-37 win in Prophetstown on Monday night.
EP came out with great energy on both ends of the court as they moved out to 7-4 lead on a nice drive by Aubrey Huisman. The teams both pushed the ball up the floor when they had the chance challenging the defenses to get back quickly with both squads playing a very aggressive man-to-man defense.
The up tempo style initially favored the Panthers as Riverdale had several rushed shot attempts that did not fall. After a Panther timeout an offensive put back by Ayden Klendworth and a three-ball by Aubrey Misfeldt ? extended the Panther lead to 12-4 with just a minute left in the frame. A bucket in the final seconds by Riverdale made it a 12-6 game after one quarter.
The rapid pace continued in the second quarter with both teams trying to drive the ball to the rim. A pretty assist from Ashlyn Johnson to Aubrey Huisman in the lane put EP up by 5 at the 4:40 mark. A nice dump pass from Johnson to Klendworth for two pushed the Panther lead to 7. The speed of the Rams’ guards showed itself in the final few minutes of the half as Riverdale got two runouts for layups off of EP turnovers. A three from EP’s Brynn Brown in the closing seconds of the half was matched by a three for the Rams at the buzzer to make it 24-20 EP lead at the half.
The Lady Panthers maintained their slim lead until a Riverdale three tied the game at 27 at the halfway point of the third quarter. Riverdale then hit another three-ball on their next possession to begin to grab the momentum. The Rams extended their lead to 7 before a Johnson drive got EP back within 3. The Rams scored the last four points of the quarter to go up 38-32 after three. The Rams outscored their hosts by 10 in the frame.
Riverdale then dropped the hammer to start the fourth quarter going on a 10-0 run to go up 14 and put the game out of reach. EP looked tired as the pace of the game seemed to catch up to them as they could not match the speed of the Rams. Lauren Abbott finally got the Panthers on the board with a free throw with two minutes remaining. Riverdale ran out the clock to take a 48-37 win.
EP coach Chris Brown loved his team’s effort. “The girls played really tough again tonight, they gave me great effort and really worked hard on a short rest. We had a really good practice yesterday and gave them a lot of Riverdale scout in a short amount of time. We just really ran out of gas late and made a few mental mistakes down the stretch that hurt us. Not sure anyone thought we would be leading at halftime!”
The #2 seeded Rams moved to 20-9 and will face the #3 seeded Oregon Hawks who beat Hall 34-28 in the other semi-final. The regional championship game will be played on Thursday at 6:30 in Prophetstown.
Lauren Abbott took scoring honors for EP with12 and Aubrey Huisman added 7. Cayleigh Hungate led all scorers with17 and Brooklyn Peterson added 10 for the Lady Rams.
Brown commented that he saw a change in his team over the past few weeks. “Overall, I am super proud of our effort and I really feel like over really the last 20 days we have seen tremendous growth. It has been really exciting to see things starting to click for them!”
The Lady Panthers conclude their season with a 7-19 record.
“I can’t say enough about my coaching staff. They did an amazing job helping prepare all year and staying positive. I really feel like we were all really locked in this past month,’ added Brown.
