Panthers look to take next step in district tournament

Lucy Porter / Pride of the Panthers

By JEREMY SCHNEIDER

IMA SPORTS

Once the emotion of Maumee’s sectional championship win over Rogers settled down, the Panthers turned their sights to the next step in their postseason journey – a Division III district semifinal against Central Catholic.

Maumee (17-6) will play in its first district tournament in nearly two decades on Wednesday night at Northwood against the Irish (7-15) in the second semifinal. The first game of the evening pits No. 1-seed Notre Dame against St. Ursula.

The Panthers are the second-highest seed remaining in the district, at No. 3. They’re entering Wednesday’s game on an eight-game winning streak, beating teams by an average of 17 points (57-40).

The fifth-seeded Irish have won four of their last five games, including a 57-52 win over No. 2 seed Bowsher in their sectional final.

Nina Stevens had 17 points to lead Central in that upset win, followed by Serinity Bolden (16 points) and Marissa Justen (10). Stevens leads the team in scoring, averaging just fewer than 11 points.

For the season, the Irish are allowing 52 points per game while scoring 40. Meanwhile, Maumee is averaging 53 per game and giving up 42.

Lucy Porter is leading the Panthers in most statistical categories – points (18.6), rebounds (9.1), steals (4.4) and assists (2.9). She’s also made a team-high 40 3-pointers.

If Central thinks it can solely concentrate on containing Porter, it had better ask Rogers how that turns out. Maumee has five other players all averaging at least four points per game, led by Taylor Smith’s 10.2 per game; she had 19 points in the win over the Rams. Smith also averages 3.6 steals and 2.7 assists.

Reign Hurt puts up 7.6 points and two assists per game, Charley Bischoff adds six points and four boards, Myla Jordan drops five points and 3.5 rebounds, and Taryn Pyle puts up four points per game.

One of the more interesting matchups will be on the sideline of the game, as former Springfield coach Clifford Hodges is the current coach at Central. During his time with the Blue Devils, Hodges led them to a 7-0 record against the Panthers, out-scoring Maumee 61-32.

To get tickets for the game, visit https://www.ohsaa.org/tickets.

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers

Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com