7th Grade-April 30-May 1

PANTHERS 26 COLLEGE BOUND 24
PANTHERS 12 DAVIS WILDCATS 30

PANTHERS 44 GV HOOPSTERS 12

 

Although we were scheduled for two back to back games on Saturday morning, at 8:00am and 9:00am, we came out ready to play and the weekend as a whole resulted in substantial success for the Panther Program. The girls battled fiercly for their first victory ever since the implementation of the Panther's middle school program. In our second game against Davis, we were outsized by the team as a whole, yet we adjusted our defense into a 2-1-2 and actually kept them out of the key for the remainder of the game. I was extremely impressed with the girl's hustle and ability to make adjustments on the fly. The Davis coach even commented after the game about how much the girls have improved and he was caught off-guard once we settled into the game :)

 

Our game on Sunday proved to be a step in the right direction as many of our girls took it upon themselves to step up and play at a higher level! We had standout play from Stephanie, Devyn, Destinee, and Sharon throughout the game against GV. I was hesitant to remove the press as our ball pressure was spectaculor and I wanted the girls to continue gaining their confidence, yet after we built our lead we dropped into a 2-3 zone and worked on filling the gaps.

 

Best Offensive Players of the Weekend: Jordan, Sharon, Destinee, Devyn, Stephanie, Morgan (Could have been the entire team!)

Best Defensive Players of the Weekend: Morgan, Stephanie, & Devyn

Best Effort: THE ENTIRE TEAM!!!

 

5th Grade-April 30-May 1

PANTHERS 26 RENO BALLERS BLUE 20
PANTHERS 28 RENO BALLERS SILVER 19
PANTHERS 9 LAFEYETTE LIGHTNING 36

Our first two games were at William Jessup and the courts just weren't what we were used to. Coach Stayza even stood on the court for most of the games due to a lack of bench space. We played a solid Reno Blue team with three fast guards and had a difficult time getting back on defense in moments throughout the game. Despite this we overcame their transition game and we closed out the game with our first victory of the weekend. The second game we played Reno's Silver team in which there appeared to be three or four "familiar" looking faces on the other team. Our trap defense was strong and we hustled for most of the game which was too much for the Silver team to handle.

Our last game of the weekend we played against the Lafeyette Lightning. We were outmatched from the beginning, despite them playing two games prior to ours, as these girls executed multiple defenses with percision. They also shot the light out with fundamental bank shots, jumpers in their range, and they shared the ball with each other very well. Not to mention all but three of the girls were as tall or taller then Coach Stayza!!!

We ended up finishing the tournament in 2nd Place...which is still a victory in my book, especially considering how far we've come in such little time. I look forward to playing again this upcoming Saturday and can't wait to watch the girls improve even more.

**There are no individual awards for this tournament as I believe all the girls worked extremely hard and should all be recognized for their individual efforts that led to our team's success :)