Lady Panther Basketball: Team starts 4-1 after defeating Class B Glasgow; Face two district foes this week

The basketball season has just begun and Saco-Whitewater Lady Panthers are 4-1 after last week's action.

They picked up an impressive 62-38 win against Class B's Glasgow Lady Scotties last Tuesday in Saco.

They then traveled to the Broadview/Ravina Invitational on Friday and defeated the Ekalaka Bulldogs 69-22.

They dropped their next game on Saturday to the Winnett-Grass Range Lady Rams. The score was 48-45.

In their win against the Ekalaka Lady Bulldogs, junior Tatum Moore led the team with 23 points.

Senior Larimie Scheffelmear wasn't far behind, as she added 21 points and seven rebounds.

Freshman Jada Sudbrack has a strong outing adding 10 points to the final tally.

"As a whole unit, I felt that our defense was very aggressive and intense," Saco-Whitewater Head Coach Amber Erickson told the PCN. "We did an awesome job in our pressure and press."

The team's pressure defense was unbeatable, as the team put up 26 points in the first quarter and 25 in the second, which would've been more than enough to put Ekalaka away.

"It was just a really good, well-rounded team effort," Coach Erickson said. "Everybody played so it was kind of a fun game to start the weekend off."

The team was so far ahead in the game, the starters sat out the whole fourth quarter.

The bench players were just as suffocating on defense, giving up only six points in the remaining quarter.

The next day, Saco-Whitewater dropped a close game to the Winnett-Grass Range Rams. The score was 48-45.

Tatum Moore scored 22 points in the loss. Kourtney Simonson added 12 and Keira Simonson added eight points.

The game against Winnett-Grass Range showed Saco-Whitewater what they have to look forward to at state this year--fast physical teams.

Grass Range has been a constant contender in the State C tourney year in and out.

"We just came out a little bit flat and they were kind of physical," Coach Erickson said. "I think we allowed the physicality of the game to take us out of our comfort zone offensively."

The game seemed like it would be another win for Saco-Whitewater up to the last 15 seconds.

"We just kind of made some poor decisions and had a couple of silly turnovers and it cost us the game," Coach Erickson continued.

She went on to say that the game was meant to show where the Lady Panthers were as a team and where they need to improve.

"It stinks to lose but I think we learned a lot more from that loss than we've learned from any of our five games this season so far," Coach Erickson said.

Coach Erickson knows without a doubt that her Lady Panthers were the better of the two teams, but she knows that the loss will only help her team in the long run.

On Tuesday, Saco-Whitewater traveled to Glasgow for the second time in two weeks to take on Class B's Glasgow Lady Scotties and won 62-38.

Senior Kourtney Simonson led the team with 18 points. Moore had 17 points and went four for four from behind the charity stripe.

In their next game Saco-Whitewater will play the Dodson Lady Coyotes and though the Lady Panthers have dominated Dodson in recent history, the team will not take the Lady Coyotes lightly.

"I think we need to come out with that good intensity and good pressure," Coach Erickson said. "When we're clicking, as far as our aggressiveness on defense is going, it makes us more aggressive on offense as well."

The game starts at 6:00 p.m. in Dodson on Thursday night.

They then will take on the Frazer Lady Bearcubs in Saco on Saturday starting at 6:00 p.m.