PANORA — Panorama avenged a 78-57 loss to host IKM-Manning Dec. 7 with a huge second half surge to post a 69-65 win over the visiting Wolves Friday.
The Class 2A Region 3 win sends Panorama (20-3), ranked 15th, into Wednesday’s Region 3 Final against No. 2 West Hankock (23-1) at Fort Dodge at 7 p.m. The winner will compete in the state tournament.
“I could not be more proud of the girls than I am tonight,” head coach Kylee Boettcher said after the win. “We could have felt bad for ourselves at halftime, but we made some changes, the girls were ready for them, and we went and made it happen.”
IKM-Manning (17-6) had blown open the first game with a 50-25 halftime lead. Friday’s game was knotted at 16-all after one frame, but a 23-10 second quarter gave the Wolves a 39-26 advantage at the intermission and threatened to create doubt in the minds of the hosts.
A defensive scheme change altered all of that.
Guard Nicole Hanson had blistered the nets for 15 points on five 3-pointers for the guests in the first half, and Boettcher had seen enough.
“We went to an aggressive man-to-man and Ella Waddle shut her down,” Boettcher said, noting the Panther junior held Hanson scoreless after the break. “We knew number 41 (Lexi Branning) would start to hurt us, but it was a change we needed to make and it worked.”
Branning finished with a game-high 25 points — 19 in the second half — but it was not enough to stave off a confident Panther unit.
Alexa Ahrenholtz had run wild in the first meeting with 36 points but on Friday was limited to just seven points.
“I can’t say enough about our hustle,” Boettcher said. “We got in the passing lanes, got to most loose balls, and really just starting bothering them. The girls could see it working and just played with more and more confidence.”
Panorama trailed, 45-34, with four minutes to play in the third quarter, but dominated the next eight minutes with an 18-3 run that gave the hosts a 52-48 lead with four minutes to play.
Both teams had virtual parades to the free throw line during the game. IKM-Manning finished 20-of-30 at the stripe, but were only 5-of-12 in the second half.
However, Panorama was 31-of-41 and showed ice in their veins with a 20-of-24 second half that included a rock solid 16-of-20 in the final eight minutes. Payton Beckman drained all six of her attempts and Laci Rishel 2-of-4 after hitting all four of her freebies in the third quarter. Waddle splashed 5-of-6 and senior Anna Holloway 3-of-4 to frustrate the Wolves.
Beckman had 20 points, as did Angel Poldberg despite playing much of the game in foul trouble. Rishel tallied 13 points, Waddle eight, Holloway four, Gabby Welberg three and Shey Storesund one. Holloway grabbed nine rebounds from her guard spot, with Storesund pulling down six caroms. Beckman had three assists and Waddle three steals, with Rishel making three thefts and blocking two shots.
Emily Kirkhoff added eight points for the visitors, with Bre Muhlbauer scoring six points and Bianca Cadwell four.
Panorama hit 4-of-12 3-pointers and IKM-Manning 7-of-23, but only one after the Panthers switched defenses in the second half.
Boettcher played in the state tournament for the Panthers and hopes she can lead the school back to quarterfinals in her first year as head coach.
“West Hancock is very good and will be the best team we have played, by far, this year,” she said. “We will try and use our speed and athleticism to wear them down. I hope we can, because I would love these girls to have the experience I had. It was already been a great year, but now we have a chance to make it a very special one.”
