The Saint Jo Lady Panthers won their area playoff game on Friday night against Avinger to keep their season alive for one more game.
The Lady Panthers easily took care of the Lady Indians 54-21, overwhelming the undermanned Avinger team as the game went along.
Saint Jo came into the game with a lot of momentum after beating Perrin-Whitt earlier in the week in the bi-district playoff game with little trouble.
The biggest thing coming into the game against the Lady Indians was how much was unknown. Coach Daniel Lindenborn was able to find only a little bit of film of his opponent during the two days of preparation and some were out of date.
It was only when the team showed up did the Lady Panthers see that not only was Avinger down one key player they had seen on film, but had only five players total.
Saint Jo knew from the film it would have to contain one explosively athletic player and another guard who could shoot 3-pointers well.
The fact the Lady Indians had several tall players also meant Saint Jo was outsized by average as well and made driving to the basket tough at times.
Still, the Lady Panthers had the exact style of play that is tough for a team with no substitutions.
Saint Jo plays a physical full-court press defense as its base and early on was having success creating turnovers in the backcourt for some transition offense opportunities.
It took a little bit for the Lady Panthers to start capitalizing on these chances, but were leading 14-4 after six minutes.
Avinger came back in the final two minutes, knocking in two 3-pointers and cutting the lead to 14-12 heading into the second quarter.
However that would be the most energetic the Lady Indians were in the game as scoring became tougher in the final three quarters against Saint Jo’s constant pressure.
The Lady Panthers scored enough while limiting Avinger to only five points to extend their lead to 25-17 at halftime.
The third quarter saw Saint Jo break the game open with its most successful offensive run in the game.
The Lady Panthers made three 3-pointers and had five players make at least one basket as they scored 18 points.
This seemed to demoralize the Lady Indians energy, which was already lacking due to fatigue as they scored only four points in response.
Saint Jo was in control up 43-21 heading into the final period. Not needing to do much with Avinger players throwing up desperate shots and a big lead in hand, the Lady Panthers coasted in the fourth quarter while giving up no points on defense.
Saint Jo won 54-21.