High School Sports

The Lady Panthers struggled mightily on offense Friday, posting their lowest output of the season with a 47-13 loss to Walton-Verona.

However, head coach Paul Stone said he was proud of his team’s defense, especially in the third quarter, in which his team outscored the Lady Bearcats 6-3. “I was proud of the way we came out and played in the third quarter,” he said. “They didn’t give up and came out ready to play.”

The Panthers hit 54 percent from the field, including 42 percent from long range, in their 57-45 win over Bellevue Saturday, Feb. 9.

Head coach Carroll Yager said he thought the team looked flat in the first half, due in part to playing a late game the night before and being out of routine on the weekend. But the boys pulled together and won the game as a unit, with all members who got playing time contributing.

The Warriors outscored the Panthers 29-7 in the third quarter to win, 72-66, on their home floor Feb. 4.

Before the game began, the district rivals demonstrated their sportsmanship and goodwill toward one another. When the captains met at midcourt, Carroll junior Dakota Corbin and Eminence senior Daishon Moore came forward as well. The two student-athletes had been involved in a fight when Eminence visited Carroll on Jan. 26. Corbin and Moore met with the officials and coaches, apologized to one another and shook hands.

The Lady Panthers cut an eight-point halftime deficit to one point with 1:37 to go in the third quarter. Unfortunately for the home team, that was as close as they would get, as the Lady Demons outscored them 22-2 the rest of the way to win, 60-39, Feb. 8.

“What got us back in the game is we started playing better defense,” head coach Paul Stone said. “We stopped leaving our feet all the time and stopped giving up all those easy baskets until the very end of the third quarter.”