A four game-winning streak, is it enough for the games to come?

The Lady Panthers have been on a winning streak since the Sneakers for Santa tournament in Brownsburg, Indiana. 

I haven’t written a blog since that game but it’s time to get back to it!

South Bend Washington was a uber quick solid team even with their top player out.  This team has a couple of the more well-known defensive players in the state. They brought intensity both offensively and defensively. At times, it did prove challenging for Elmore and Ernstes but those two handled it well and rose to the challenge.

The Lady Panthers answered the call that day with poise and excellence in the first half.  Mollie Ernstes caught fire and led the Panthers into halftime with 17. Juliann was having an off night offensively, but her size and rebounding made a huge difference when she left the game third quarter due to an ankle issue.  Elmore did her point guard position with excellence, creating opportunities for others while still driving hard to the basket. This crew fought hard during Woodard’s absence even though South Bend Washington came back from their 13-point deficit to pull ahead by 5 in the third.  Things were getting shaky for the Lady Panthers, but Maddie McIntosh and Riley Byford were able to step up and hit some absolute key buckets while Juliann played through some pain getting back in the game fourth quarter.  For the first time, we were able to see the Lady Panthers be challenged late in the game and fight back for the win 62-58.  As a spectator, it was impressive to see.

Since that time the Lady Panthers haven’t missed a beat winning their next 3 games with Seymour, New Albany, and last night’s win against Madison. It would be all cupcakes and roses except for the fact these wins haven’t been as strong of competition for the team as they would have liked.  In these last few games, the Lady Panthers have dominated play and have had great performances out of their starting five, and also others that normally wouldn’t have much playing time. That’s all good things.

However, even though their win was big against Madison 64-23, it was concerning to see their level of play drop.  We fumbled the ball on easy plays and we missed several easy buckets.  Our offense looked choppy, robotic, and slow, something you would expect to see at the beginning of the season and not heading into the later part of the season.  All of which will matter when we meet up with those top-ranked teams.

The girls worked hard, and they hustled but beyond that, it was less than stellar. 

Woodard bounced back offensively which was great to see and was able to make some great fast-break passes.  McIntosh hit some great shots while maintaining Juliana Davis to a very low 10 pts and Freshman Etta Young connected a few buckets herself. Ernstes was solid but you could tell she wasn’t in her usual flow offensively but she made a couple of great steals and great fast break options. Alivia played the point well and was strong offensively and defensively. Belding, Carson and Byford came off the bench and made a solid contribution.

Like I said, last night’s play was okay, but it wasn’t great basketball, which is something these girls are capable of.  It’s like this…. when these girls run the ball, play with confidence, know the personnel on the court at any given time, and make the right passes there isn’t a team in this state that can compete with them.  

Many see that in them.

However, they can at times not fully understand the moment they’re in and what they’re capable of, choosing the lesser way of play. 

I hope that they reconnect as a squad, utilize their talent on the court, and play some basketball. 

There isn’t any one dream too far out of reach for this team this year but they must choose to settle in their hearts what that dream is and go after it every day. Whatever it takes to play well and win, each player must do their part well to accomplish this….every play, every day.

The next match-up will be this Saturday (12-15) as we head down to Oldham County, Kentucky. Play starts at noon. See you there!