Ladies defeat Cougars
Narrowly miss win over Banks
By JARED PUTNAM

Candace Williams leaps into the air to save the ball from going out of bounds against Banks County.

The Lady Panthers experienced a pair of tough losses to Banks County and White County, but bounced back over the weekend with a big win over the Lady Cougars of Copper Basin.

Lady Panthers 50 - Lady Leopards 54

The Lady Panthers almost pulled out a victory in their first subregion game of the season, but the Lady Leopards of Banks County managed to hold on for the win. “It was one of those games where you do everything right and you lose,” said Head Coach Mike West. The coach said that the Lady Panthers won almost all of the statistical categories, but had a very low shooting percentage, hitting only 19 of 76 shots while Banks hit 18 of 47 shots.

Union County trailed 29-23 at halftime but managed to take the lead 40-38 on a Kayla Gowder layup in the third quarter. The game remained tight down the stretch, and Union led again 49-48 on a Jess Seabolt three-pointer. Banks reclaimed the lead and did not relinquish it.

“I was extremely proud of our effort and our hustle, we were the better team,” said Coach West. “It was a big game because it was a subregion game and a home game. It was a fluke, but we lost.”

Kaley Sullivan battles a Lady Leopard for the loose ball.

Kayla Gowder and Leslie Bittenbinder were both in double figures in scoring for the Lady Panthers, posting 11 points and 10 points respectively.

Lady Panthers 37 - Lady Warriors 56

Union County ran into a tough matchup against White County on the road, as the Lady Warriors would not be denied a win.

“The first quarter did us in,” said Coach West. “With White County you have to be able to handle their press. If you can’t handle their press, they can go on runs.”

The coach said that the opposing Lady Warriors went on a 15-5 run to start the game. Union cut the lead to 15-9 but the Warriors got an offensive rebound and hit a three-pointer near the end of the quarter to push the lead to 18-9.

“We played hard and we didn’t quit,” said Coach West. That was the night we decided to change our lineup a little bit and get a little more defense oriented. That has changed our team. We have given up 37 and 39 points the past two games. We were good defensively anyway, now we’re [even better]. That game was the turning point.”

Candace Williams and Lauren Dyer were both in double figures for the Lady Panthers. Williams scored 13 points while Dyer chipped in 11 to go along with 8 rebounds.

Lady Panthers 52 - Lady Cougars 37

After a pair of tough losses the Lady Panthers got back to their winning ways with a big win over the Lady Cougars of Copper Basin.

Coach West said that the Lady Panthers gave up some easy shots, but overall did a good job of getting in people’s faces and executing the new defense. “That was the first time that I felt that our defense could really shut somebody down,” said the coach.

Union held the lead at halftime but Copper Basin went on an 11-0 run to start the third quarter. “People were yelling for me to call a timeout and I don’t blame them, but we were getting great shots,” said Coach West. “You don’t call a timeout unless you know what you want to say and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say because everything I was looking at was fine. It turned around and we went on a 28-8 run to finish the game.”

Much of the Lady Panthers scoring came from post play as Kayla Gowder led the team with 14 points. Lauren Dyer added a double double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.