Lady Panthers headed to section championship game

After a dominant 81-55 win over Tri-City United (TCU) at the Taylor Center in Mankato Monday night, the Lady Panthers basketball team will try to earn its first trip to the state tournament since the 2016-’17 season.

The Panthers improved to 22-5 overall and will take on Glencoe Silver Lake for the Section 2AA Championship Friday night at 8 p.m. in the Taylor Center.

“We are very excited for the privilege and the opportunity to play in the section championship game on Friday,” NRHEG head coach Onika Peterson said. “I am so proud of this group of girls.”

Peterson called the night a ‘program win.’ All night long the Panthers forced the Titans into errors as the defense collapsed and trapped whenever the ball was passed into the corners. This led to the Panthers forcing more than 20 turnovers in the game.

“We have talked all year about how it takes a program to do well,” Peterson said. “It takes every single person, whether they are running our scout team, rebounding, making the extra pass, diving on the loose ball, or scoring points.”

The Panthers did not trail in this game, and led by as many as ten in the first half. However, the Titans cut into the lead, making it 37-31 at halftime.

Within two minutes of the second half, buckets from both VanMaldeghem sisters pushed the Panther lead to ten. Over the final eleven minutes of the game, the Panthers extended their lead and never looked back.

The VanMaldeghem twins were a force Monday night, scoring 53 combined points. Quinn registered an impressive triple double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 12 steals. Camryn led the Panthers in scoring with 34 points. Dominant in the paint was Kylie Olson who was third in scoring with 17 points. She added seven boards with numerous offensive put-backs.

“This group has been improving every game and we can't wait to make a run on Friday,” Peterson concluded.

Individually for the Panthers:

1 G. SCHLAAK- 3 pts, 4 rebounds, 1 steal

2 E. BOERNER- 1 rebound

4 Q. VANMALDEGHEM-  19 pts, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 12 steals, 2 blocked shots

10 C. BUENDORF- 2 pts, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

12 C. VANMALDEGHEM- 34 pts, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals, 1 blocked shot

15 C. STORK- 2 pts, 1 rebound, 2 steals

23 A. GROSKREUTZ 1 rebound

24 E. STADHEIM- 4 pts

32 K. OLSON- 17 pts, 7 rebounds, 1 steal