Last Friday, the Starr’s Mill Lady Panthers faced the Lady Wildcats and came out victorious with a score of 69-23.
“I think near the beginning of the year we were playing slower when we played teams that weren’t quite as good as us,” senior Brooke Herdman said. “But I think now that we’ve realized we can really go and win region and make it far in state. We just need to go take care of business and make good habits for ourselves.”
Even though she only played during the first half, Herdman was the lead scorer with a total of 13 points. Following behind were senior Brooke Godown and freshmen Ava Glover and Lindsey Kopacek with 7 points each.
For the Wildcats, sophomore Zoey Leischner and sophomore Jyothika Stephen both scored 6 points. Freshman Cadence Hallander added 4 points.
The starting five for Starr’s Mill, comprised of seniors Sunny McQuade, Godown, Herdman, junior Kali McQuade and Kopacek, dominated the first quarter, holding Whitewater scoreless. The Panthers led 19-0 after the opening quarter.
Aggressive dominant play continued in the second quarter with Starr’s Mill scoring easy buckets while Whitewater struggled on both ends of the court. The Panthers increased their lead to 41-4 at halftime.
“During practice [aggressive defense is] one of our key points that Coach Atha’s been making,” senior Tani Alofe said. “She’s been telling us to focus on our defense because our offense is pretty much good with all our plays.”
Coming out of the locker room, Whitewater came back and started to shoot a lot more. Starr’s Mill turned to the bench allowing younger players to get time on the court. However, the Panthers maintained a strong lead after the third quarter, 55-19.
The pace of play slowed down in the final quarter as Starr’s Mill protected a large lead. The 69-23 win was the team’s 8th consecutive region win to end the regular season.
“By the time the region tournament rolls around I think you just have to play as best as you can no matter what happens,” head coach Anna Atha said. “I think we just have to focus on our standard and everything else takes care of itself.”
The Lady Panthers will play again tonight at 7:30 p.m. against Riverdale in the second round of the region tournament hosted at LaGrange High School.