Lady Panthers take second at State Tourney in Missoula

The Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale (SWH) Lady Panthers ended the season on the same note that got them to the 2015 Class C State Championship game in Missoula, and that's with ferocious defense.

The team faced a 13 point deficit against the eventual champion Gardiner Lady Bruins, and brought it down to one point late in the fourth quarter.

Ultimately a lack of fast break points and foul calls cost the team as they fell 55-48 to the Bruins.

On the way to the championship game, the Lady Panthers defeated Belt 56-50 last Thrusday in the opening round of the tourney. Belt came into Missoula as winners of the last three state tournaments.

SWH then went on to defeat Twin Bridges in the semi-finals 54-45.

The Lady Panthers, didn't lose the championship for lack of effort as the team was led by Junior Tatum Moore, who had 22 points, most of which came in the fourth quarter.

Senior Larimie Scheffelmear had a 12 point, 12 rebound double-double in the game. She also recorded two blocks and three steals.

Senior Kourtney Simonson had six points and eight rebounds. Senior Keira Simonson had six turnovers and six rebounds. Senior Kayla Howard had two points and a game high five steals.

SWH outscored Gardiner in the first, third and fourth quarter.

The issue was the team being outscored 16-6 in the second quarter.

"We couldn't buy a bucket," Lady Panther Head Coach Amber Erickson said.

It wasn't that the Lady Panthers didn't take care of the ball. In fact the Lady Panthers only turned over the ball 12 times and gave up only two fast break points, and 13 points off of those turnovers.

SWH forced 19 turnovers and scored 22 points off those turnovers.

The number that is the shocker is that the team did not score one point on the fast break, which is something the Lady Panthers thrive on.

The fourth quarter started with the team going on a 7-0 run, led by Tatum Moore who grabbed a few impressive buckets in the paint while drawing a couple of fouls that got her to the free throw line.

The team would bring the game to a 47-46 tally, with 2:00 remaining.

The team also gained possession and had the chance to gain their first lead since the first quarter of the game.

The team would not convert on the possession.

With only 40 seconds to go in the game, Scheffelmear was called for an unintentional foul after trying to grab a rebound.

The foul sent Hannah Dean to the charity stripe, where she knocked down both shots, making it a three point game.

Dean led the Bruins with 22 points, 18 rebounds, five blocks, and five assists. She also turned the ball over 13 times, thanks to some pressure and traps.

Ultimately Gardiner sealed the game at the free throw line.

The Bruins got to the line for 29 attempts throughout the game and the team netted 21 points.

The Lady Panthers only got to the charity stripe for 11 attempts and while they made seven of those attempts, they simply didn't make it to the line enough times.

Though the game and a few calls didn't go the team's way, Coach Erickson was proud of the effort and sportsmanship shown by her team.

"Not once did the girls back down to anyone or complain about the calls the referees made or didn't make," Coach Erickson said. "They showed absolute heart, determination and sportsmanship."

Coach Erickson also noted that the team gained the support of many watching the game.

In the Lady Panthers opening win against the Belt Huskies, the team was led by Moore who had 20 points, three steals, three assists and four rebounds.

Keira Simonson had 15 points, six rebounds and was nine for ten at the charity stripe.

Kourtney Simonson had eight points, four rebounds and three steals.

Scheffelmear had 13 rebounds and seven points and had four blocks.

Jada Sudbrack had four points and Kayla Howard had two points.

The Lady Panthers came into the game as underdogs to the reigning champs.

"I would prefer to be the underdog, because it was our revenge match from last year at state," Keira said. "Losing to them at state last year was hard because it was semi-finals night and to battle back in the morning was super hard."

She attributes the win to having fresh legs because it was the opening round.

SWH held the lead the whole game (31:46) and the team led by 15 with seven minutes to go.

Belt tried to make a run at SWH in the fourth, eventually chopping the lead to six points, but some clutch free throw shooting by Keira Simonson put them away.

"I had a lot of confidence actually," Keira said. "I was like knock it down!"

She went on to say that she and her mother would work of free throws every Sunday. It paid off.

"We would knock them down like they were nothing and act like we were at different gyms," Keira said.

The team as a whole shot well behind the stripe, knocking down 19 of 22 attempts or 86 percent.

SWH got to the free throw line for 30 attempts against Twin Bridges in their 54-45 win last Friday night.

Of those 30 free throw attempts, the team converted 19, 63 percent.

Moore led the team against Twin Bridges with 16 points and four steals.

Kourtney Simonson had 12 points and 12 rebounds, giving her the game's only double-double. She also had a game leading three assists.

Larimie Scheffelmear had an astounding 19 rebounds, seven points, three blocks and three steals.

Keira Simonson had 11 points.

Kayla Howard had six points, five steals and four rebounds.

Kayleigh Cummings had two points.

The Lady Panthers scored 27 points off of the 24 turnovers they forced.

SWH also scored 13 second chance points.

The team led for the length of the game (30:45) and led by 19 with 1:19 left in the third.

Twin bridges had a good amount of height under the basket swatting shots in the paint at will.

"Yes it was difficult," Keira told the PCN. "I got swatted twice. We just kept pounding it in. You don't back down, you can't because then you'll be intimidated and there was no reason we needed to be because we were quicker and faster."