The Gold-Burg Lady Bears broke away in the fourth quarter to beat Saint Jo at home on Saturday.
The Lady Bears won 39-23 on senior night to earn their first district win.
Both teams came into the game off the holiday break with not just rust from not playing, but only five players and no subs on the bench.
The first quarter showed it was going to be a low scoring game. Gold-Burg’s shots from outside were not going in. The Lady Panthers were having trouble trying to pass through the Lady Bears’ zone defense. Gold-Burg led 9-6 after the first quarter.
Saint Jo did better in the second quarter. Kate Sherwin made two jump shots and the Lady Panthers grabbed the lead 15-14 as their defense continued to give the Lady Bears problems.
After halftime Gold-Burg started the third quarter by making a 3-pointer to grab the lead. Almost midway through the quarter disaster struck for Saint Jo. One of its players fouled out, which meant the team would have to play the rest of the game with one less player.
The Lady Panthers had to go to a zone on defense instead of the usual man-to-man defense along with other complications that would come up playing with one less player.
The Lady Bears took advantage initially, taking a 21-15 lead, but Saint Jo buckled down and fought. Kayden Skidmore made several mid-range shots and Sherwin scored a basket in the final two minutes of the quarter to keep the game close, the Lady Panthers trailing only 24-21.
The fourth quarter saw Gold-Burg start to make its run. Shadie Whitaker scored six points and Taylor Lyons scored five in the quarter to help the Lady Bears finally pull away.
With the game out of reach, Saint Jo had trouble answering with much offense as Gold-Burg won 39-23.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.