The week started off great for the Lady Panthers as they took on their rivals, the Nicholas County Lady Grizzlies. This would prove to be a warm up for the LKC placement game in Parkersburg where they would take on the number eight Red Devils of Ravenswood for the LKC Championship. The Lady Panthers started a little slow in the first period but turned on the fan for the rest of the game. The Lady Grizzlies brought it close in the fourth quarter, getting some of the offensive rebounds and turning them into points. The Lady Panthers derailed their hopes however, with a run of 15 points in the last period. Once again, Katelyn Horrocks was an ace milking the net for 19 points. McKinzee Barker and Emily Wynn both went into double digits. McKinzee hit for 14 while Emily followed with 12. It was a good win going into the LKC Championship with the final score being Lady Panthers 57, Lady Bears 47. Then, as Saturday rolled around, a snow storm from the north blew in and blanketed our region with blinding snow squalls and the road to the LKC Championship became treacherous. However, some of the best fans in the country took to the icy roads and risked life and limb to support their Lady Panthers. Others had to stay home, stuck in the grasp of the storm, but cheered them on none the less with updates coming in from those that were there. It was one of those games that will go down as the one that got away for the Lady Panthers. They led the Lady Red Devils the whole game up until late in the fourth period when the Lady Red Devils were able to gain the advantage on rebounds and score. They tied the game late, and with about 13 seconds left in the game, the Lady Red Devils broke with a driving layup to win the game 64-66. It was a hard fought game; the Lady Panthers will have to learn from this and move on to bigger and better things. The road will be tough to the state tournament, but that has never stopped them before. The girls have two games coming up against Tolsia on the 17th and Scott on the 20th of February. The sectional tournament will follow on February 23-27, the regionals on March 4th and finally the state tournament March 11-14th. Good luck Lady Panthers on this final stretch.
