WALSENBURG– It was a cross county rivalry which ended in gladness for one team and disappointment for another as the La Veta Redskins varsity team handily defeated the John Mall Panthers 80-26 last Thursday evening, spoiling the debut of new Panther head coach, Mike Glidden.
The Redskins dominated play from the opening tip, playing their aggressive brand of ball, forcing the Panthers to create costly turnovers and fouls. Redskins, Cara Campbell opened the scoring with a free throw from the line. On the next play, Sami Willhoite stole the ball for the games first bucket. Willhoite would exploded for 23 first half points and 33 overall in the game. The Redskins opened up an 11 point lead before the Panthers would score.
While turnovers and nerves plagued the Lady Panthers, the Skins struggled with shooting, despite the eighty points they put on the boards, they shot twenty five of seventy five from the field and twenty one of thirty two from the charity line. Most of the points came off turnovers and easy lay-ups. Midway in the second, Willhoite had three steals in a row for six points. On her last bucket, Panther Katie Monahan went down with an ankle injury, sending a nervous shock to the Panther faithful. Monahan would return later in the quarter to finish out the game. The Panthers on the other hand did a good job of containing the Redskin shooting while they were on defense.
When the second half began and the game out of reach, La Veta coach, Kent Smith opted to play his second team and members of the junior varsity, demonstrating what a class act he brings to La Veta.
La Veta’s Shelby Morgan scored twenty five points and had nine steals. She also had sixteen rebounds. Katie Monahan was the Panther high scorer with 12.
For both schools, it was a learning experience and a chance to iron out the nerves and mistakes. These two schools will likely meet again this weekend at the TSJC tournament. La Veta will play Rye at 3pm and John Mall will play Hoehne at 4:30.
BOX SCORE – QT. 1 2 3 4 FINAL
La Veta 24 24 16 16 80
John Mall 3 4 6 13 26
