How close was the Lady Panthers’ epic basketball match at Sweet Grass last Saturday? Here’s how close it was: Through 32 minutes of regular time, neither team could scratch out more than a four-point advantage. The four-point cushion in question belonged to the Herders with just 1:12 left in the game – but the Panthers tied the score to force overtime.
In that extra period, the Herders stretched their lead to seven with just 50 seconds remaining. Game over, right? Not just yet. Grace Jones sank a free throw. Rachel VanBlaricom hit a two and two free throws. The Herders made a free throw. All of which made it 58-55, a three-point Sweet Grass edge, with 11 seconds on the clock.
You know what comes next. The Panthers race down the floor. The ball comes to VanBlaricom. She puts up a three-pointer. The shot hits the rim, rattles around, and then…pops out. Buzzer sounds. Herder fans heave sighs of relief.
That’s how close it was. VanBlaricom led all scorers with 28 points; Jones added 12.
As the divisional tournament nears, the Panther girls are improving each week. The night before, they played with confidence against Ennis, a tall team that had just two losses coming in. The Panthers raced to a 15-10 lead on a run started by Jones’ two-point basket and capped by threes from VanBlaricom and Ashton Oxarart. Their lead widened to 25-18 by the half.
The third period saw both teams struggle to get the ball to fall through the hoop, with Ashley Pankratz accounting for four of the Panthers’ mere five points. (Jefferson’s free-throw shooting didn’t help; for the game, it was 9 for 28 from the charity stripe.) Fortunately, Ennis did even worse, leaving Jefferson up by eight. Ennis to pulled within four with 4:45 left in the game, but then a steal and score by VanBlaricom and an old-fashioned three by Jones made it 37-29.
With 56 seconds left, the Panthers called time out – and sent in Masttie Brustkern. It was a nice moment: Brustkern suffered a concussion last year, and this was her first appearance of 2019. She drew a big roar from the home crowd by sinking a two-pointer, capping the Panthers’ 41-33 win. VanBlaricom led with 13 points, and Pankratz added 12.
Boys
The boys’ team had a good night against Ennis, as well. The Panthers wasted no time jumping out to a 23-7 lead at the end of the first, with Bryce Harrington taking it to the rim for 12 in the period. Ennis played tough in the second quarter, cutting the lead by four, to 37-25 at the half.
Avery Stiles came out hot in the third, hitting two threes, three twos and a free throw for 13 of the Panthers’ 25 points in the period. That made it 62-38, putting the game out of reach. But Jefferson kept pouring it on. Harrington, facing taller defenders, kept cutting through the defense and putting the ball through the hoop. And Kieran Eveland’s basket with 1:40 left gave the Panthers 75 points, their most in a game this season. Final: 75-52. Harrington racked up 33 points, and Stiles poured in 26.
Unfortunately, the Panthers had to play Sweet Grass the next night. The Herders showed why they are leading the league and ranked near the top of class B this year, averaging 64.8 points per game while giving up just 40.6. The school’s starting five have played together for all four years of high school. They took their lumps in the first two years but have gelled into a strong side.
Sweet Grass poured on the speed early on, scoring the game’s first 13 points before Stiles sank a three with 3:13 left in the first. Harrington added five points in the next three minutes to make the score 18-8, Herders, at the end of one.
Kieran Eveland and Trent McMaster did their best to keep the score close in the second, but the hot-shooting Herders upped their lead to 36-20. The second half was more of the same, with Sweet Grass coasting to a 75-43 win.
The Panthers look to be where the Herders were three years ago, with quite a few young players poised to make their marks in seasons ahead. On this night, McMaster and Harrington shared high scoring honors with 9, and Jaxson Yanzick added 8.
Now, Jefferson enters into the last weekend of the regular season. The Panthers will travel to Townsend on Friday night and then to class A – and soon to be AA – Belgrade on Saturday. The District 5B tournament follows, Feb. 14-16, also in Belgrade.
