ROCKFORD- It was senior night for the Parkway Panthers as they hosted the Spencerville Bearcats. Parkway was without the services of Allison, however the hosts found success from behind the arc to pick up the 54-26 victory.
“After New Bremen last week we knew we didn’t play very well last week,” said Parkway head coach Dan Willamson. “We were able to get back to ourselves tonight and sharing the ball with multiple girls making shots.”
The opening was an offensive struggle as both teams struggled from the floor. Gabrielle Stober connected on all seven of the quarter points for the hosts while the Bearcats received three points from Clara Goecke and a basket from Heidi Keller.
“We wanted to throw something different at them to see if it affected them in a way we could continue to run it,” said Willamson on going with a zone defense in the second quarter. “Our girls ran it really well and they defended it perfectly with how we talked about it in practice.”
The shots was trending for the hosts and it made a big difference on the scoreboard. Parkway went on a 22-0 scoring run that wasn’t answered till late in the quarter. Emiree Knittle and Paige Willamson combined on four three pointers in the quarter while Stober chipped in four for the hosts.
The Panthers shot 50 percent from downtown in the first half. A pair of Keller free throws were the only visitors points in the quarter.
Stober continued to lead the charge in the third quarter as she tallied six of her game high 17 points to keep the hosts ahead by plenty. Keller added five points for the visitors while Eilan Muniz added four but the deficit was at 44-16 after three quarters.
Both teams turned to their reserves in the quarter and played even in the final minutes. Williamson led the Panthers with five points in the quarter while Keller and Allison Post added three points for the Bearcats.
It was the final home game for seniors Hughes, Stober, and Knittle.
“You always want to win your last game and send your seniors out the right way,” concluded Willamson. “It was great that we could get them out at the end so they could get an ovation from the fans so it was nice for them.”
Parkway improves to 19-2 on the season and will visit St. Henry on Thursday. Spencerville drops to 10-11 on the season and will host Ada in the regular season finale.
Spencerville 5 – 2 – 9 – 10 – 26
Parkway 7 – 22 – 15 – 10 – 54
Spencerville (26)
Heidi Keller (12) Eilan Muniz (6) Clara Goecke (3) Allison Post (3) Gabi Croft (2)
Parkway (54)
Gabrielle Stober (17) Paige Willamson (14) Emiree Knittle (12) Adria Miller (5) Audrey Nichols (4) Brittyn Bruns (2)
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