The Saint Jo Lady Panthers won their bi-district playoff game on Monday night against Perrin-Whitt and made it look easy.
The Lady Panthers beat the Lady Pirates 52-35, with the deficit looking much worse at times.
Saint Jo came into the game confident. It had secured the district championship the previous week, beating Forestburg 61-35 on Feb. 4, the team’s second straight district title and this year it was won with an undefeated record.
Playing a Perrin-Whitt team that had 16 wins on the season, the Lady Panthers knew they had the advantage if they played up to their potential.
The first quarter saw Saint Jo start fast, but the Lady Pirates eventually seemed to slow down a bit and find some of the holes in the Lady Panthers press defense to cut the lead to 14-8.
Saint Jo made a slight adjustment in its press defense, going from a 2-1 look to a 1-2 look and it seemed to make all the difference.
Taylor Patrick relentlessly chased who ever had the ball in the backcourt all night and Jordyn O’Neal, Payzlie Cervantes and Krista Reeves were waiting at halfcourt to come up and double-team or jump the passing lanes the rest of the game.
It changed the game into the rough and tumble type of game Saint Jo likes to play. In the half court, the Lady Panthers tried to use their advantage they had in the post to try and score around the basket. Sometimes, this set up hustle play opportunities for chasing offensive rebounds and getting wide open 3-point shots.
That combined with the transition opportunities thanks to Saint Jo’s press defense led the Lady Panthers to start pulling away in the second quarter. Saint Jo led 28-13 at halftime.
The second half did not make anything better for a Lady Pirates team that seemed to get more flustered and frustrated as the game wore on. Perrin-Whitt kept looking for the aggressive cross court pass to try and make the Lady Panthers pay for their pressure, but passes more often went sailing out of bounds.
The physical play also led to a few chippy moments between players even with plenty of fouls being handed out between both teams, though it was not so much that it made the game unwatchable.
Still, it was all Saint Jo as the lead was at 45-24 heading into the fourth quarter. The Lady Pirates made up some of the difference in the final few minutes, but the Lady Panthers had the game in hand long before and held on to win comfortably 52-35.

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