PANORA, Iowa — The Panorama Panthers basketball teams had their first regular season games last week, with the girls winning two and the boys losing two.
The Panther girls earned a 58-27 win over non-conference IKM-Manning Thursday night. They started off strong and kept that momentum going throughout the game, with Tyme Boettcher leading the team in points with 16.
Mia Waddle played solid defense and helped force turnovers, which led to wide-open runs. She also contributed 13 points.
Jaidyn Sellers worked the boards and brought down multiple rebounds for the Panthers all while adding 9 points.
Zoey Hambleton kept her aggressiveness going throughout the game, adding 7 points to the scoreboard and forcing turnovers by the Wolves of IKM-Manning.
Other Panther players contributed to the game as well with solid defense and scoring when needed.
As Coach Boettcher said, “Watching the team start to understand their roles is so much fun!” The coach said the team starts to hone in on their team season goals.
In boys’ play, the Panthers dropped their first non-conference season opener against IKM-Manning with a score of 66-56.
Maddox Hammerstrom led the Panthers with 19 points. Klayton Bremer added in 13 points, Braylon Dawes 10, Braedon Draper 8 and Jacob Walker with 6 points.
The Panthers played hard and fought until the very last second. The determination and hard work were there, but foul trouble set them back. Four of the playing rotation had more than three fouls each.
In conference play Friday night, the Panther girls overcame the Madrid Tigers 54-24.
The defense was solid and fierce, which gave the Panthers scoring opportunities in transition, with Boettcher, Waddle and Hambleton leading the Panther scoring.
The Tigers gave it all they had, but the Panthers girls kept up the pace, and in the end the Panthers took it home and came away with a 2-0 record overall and 1-0 in the conference.
The Panther boys fell 68-55 to the Tigers. Two Panthers scored in double digits, but it was not enough to pull through for the win.
The shooting in the paint was keeping Panorama alive, as our around-the-arch shots were not dropping in the way the Panthers needed for a win.
The boys kept battling against a 6’ 4′ player from Madrid and aggressive 3-point shooters.
The Panther boys are now 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
