The Lady Panthers Take One Step Forward In Tournament

With tournament ahead, the Lady Panthers never looked back.

Photo by Hayden Clingaman

Wednesday, February 17, 2021 was the first tournament game for the Stryker Lady Panthers and who better to face than the Fayette Eagles. Tipoff started at 7 pm and this game meant more than any other game all year. The winner would advance on in tournament while the loser would call it a season. Stryker's head coach Conner Varner made great remarks in spite of the practices leading up to their first tournament game: "We have had good practices where we worked hard and prepared ourselves for this game against Fayette." On top of having good practices leading up to tournament, the Lady Panthers also got to play on their home court. "Playing our first tournament game at home may ease the jitters a little bit, but there is no reason to relax for both teams will be coming out ready to go" says Coach Varner.

Stryker and Fayette are both in the Buckeye Border Conference (BBC); therefore, this would not be the only time these two teams have faced off against one another. Despite knowing the other team and analyzing how they play, "tournament time is like a brand-new season and we should not be afraid of anything - just give it all we've got" says Coach Varner.

“The Eagles could not stop her."

Stryker was off to a decent start in the first half of the game ending with 3 points in the first quarter and 11 by halftime. The Eagles started off ahead of the Panthers in the first quarter; however, the Panthers bounced back and held the Eagles to only 6 points by halftime. "Getting in a flow offensively right from the beginning will be beneficial" says Coach Varner. And surely, they did. When the second half came around the Lady Panthers kept pushing forward. Sage Woolace, a sophomore for the Lady Panthers had an extraordinary game scoring 14 points. The Eagles could not stop her, especially when she was inside the paint. Any time Sage entered the paint she was bound to go to the free throw line, and from there on out the Eagles were finished. Sage shot 80% from the free throw line which ended up totaling more than half of her points for the night. The final score was 27 to 16, Stryker.

The Stryker Lady Panthers were led by Sage Woolace who scored 14 points, followed by (Sr.) Kinsey Myers with 6, (So.) Alexia Wickerham with 4, and sophomore Kaitlyn Myers with 3.

Written by Hayden Clingaman