Lady Panthers sizzle at HEM, scratch and claw at Big Piney

Taylor Smith scored a career high of 26 points in the Lady Panthers 58-42 win against Hanna-Elk-Mountain-Medicine Bow (HEM) Friday night in the Miner’s court.

“I didn’t want to lose,” Smith said “so I took a chance and luckily it fell for me.”

Smith had 60 percent shooting from beyond the arc sinking three out of five attempts.

“It started a fire on the floor,” Smith said “and everybody started taking chances.”

The chances paid off big with the Lady Panthers outscoring the miners in the third quarter 24-15 after ending the first half with a two point lead.

“They (Miners) weren’t even the same team we played a couple of weeks ago,” head coach Matt Love said in an email, “They really improved a lot.”

The Ladies were down two players when the game started with Amber Young and Shelby McGuire out with injuries.

Veronica Lincoln rolled her ankle in the third quarter and left the game.

In the first quarter, the Lady Miners scored their first 6 points in the first five minutes before the Panthers stopped them cold and used the remaining time to bring their score up to 5 points.

Smith scored her first 3-pointer to move the Panthers ahead in the second quarter, and the Panthers had a 3 point lead against the Miners at the half.

The Panthers played aggressively to keep their lead with one of their players facing foul trouble by the end of the half.

HEM made several attempts at the bucket when Justine Fourman went coast to coast, snagging a rebound and dribbling the length of the court to score a bucket on the other end.

HEM answered with 2 points just before the halftime buzzer, leaving the score 19-16.

Three minutes into the third quarter Smith began to sizzle on the court, sinking 3-pointers and driving the lane to score two pointers. Smith piled up 16 points in the second half.

Smith said after the game her team was pretty excited about their third win against Hanna.

“As long as we pull together as a team, I am confident we will come out on top tomorrow.”

Smith said she is blessed with this group of girls for her senior year.

“They all have special talents … it is pretty good to watch as a senior.”

The Lady Panthers continued their strong lead into the fourth quarter and three minutes into the final quarter had an 18-point lead.

During the last two minutes three of the varsity players went to the bench after fouling out, but their lead was too great for the Miners to close the gap.

Saturday, the Lady Panthers traveled to Big Piney short three key players due to injuries and illnesses, including leading scorer Smith.

The team lost to Big Piney 39-46.

Without Smith, sophomore Fourman stepped up her game, Love said, and scored 19 points for the Panthers. Fourman shot 83 percent from beyond the arc with five 3-pointers.

Freshman Mati Love scored 11 points and had five rebounds and Lincoln scored 5 points.

“Justine got into some foul trouble early in the third quarter,” Love said. “We really dug ourselves a hole getting down by 19 points as Big Piney went on a run.”

Fourman returned to play in the middle of the third quarter despite having four fouls and the team started their comeback, Love said.

“We were within 5 points with about a minute to play,” Love said. “I’ve never seen five kids on the floor at one time with such determination to win, and more importantly, believing they still could win after being down by that much,”

The Panthers started to press “something fierce” and they started getting steals and layups, Love said. Fourman hit a couple more 3s and Big Piney used four of their five time outs in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers fouled in the last minute to stop the clock and gambled getting the ball back. “Unfortunately, they (Big Piney) made some key freethrows and we just ran out of time.”

Love said it was great to see the youngsters play with such determination, heart and pride. “I had a lot of our hometown fans coming up to me after the game very impressed with our youngsters and our comeback.”

Love is looking forward to the team’s future.

“I’m so proud of them, it sure didn’t feel like we lost.”

Friday the Lady Panthers host the Pine Bluff Hornets beginning at 3 p.m. with junior varsity and Southeast Saturday at 1 p.m.