The Saint Jo Lady Panthers season came to an end on Tuesday night in the regional quarterfinal against state-ranked Newcastle.
The Lady Cats won 62-29 against the Lady Panthers.
Saint Jo came into the game as underdogs. Newcastle had lost only one game all season and was ranked second in the state in 1A according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll and fourth on Max Preps rankings.
The Lady Panthers were coming off one-sided playoff wins against Perrin-Whitt and Avinger to reach the regional quarterfinals.
The Lady Cats had a huge size advantage at almost every position. More importantly they had recent move-in Mattie Dollar, who came from 2A Martin’s Mill program that is used to being among the state’s best.
Saint Jo tried to be physical and play fast with its full-court pressing style, but it could not stop Dollar who scored 18 of her team’s 20 points in the first quarter.
The Lady Panthers had trouble finding any clean looks and scored only one point as they trailed 20-1.
Even with Saint Jo playing a bit more evenly in the second quarter, trying to box-and one Dollar by sticking Taylor Patrick on her while the rest of the team played zone defense, it was not enough to change the game around.
Newcastle led 34-9 at halftime.
Any thought of the Lady Panthers being able to turn things around in the second half went out the window as more Lady Cat players started to score and it was not all Dollar.
Saint Jo’s offense stalled again against the massive size and disciplined play from Newcastle, scoring only four points in the third quarter. The Lady Cats led 53-13 heading into the final period.
With Newcastle’s starters pulled for the majority of the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers were able to find some success scoring the ball than they had all game.
Saint Jo more than doubled its three quarter total in the final period and played hard until the end even with the game out of reach.
The Lady Panthers lost 62-29.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.