Panthers come up a little short

Wed. February 22, 2012 at 11:52 p.m. | By Bruce Wehrle

WALLBURG | Man, wouldn’t the Ledford girls’ basketball team love to have those last two-and-a-half minutes to do over again.

After tying the game at 53-53 with 2:45 left to play, the No. 2 seeded Panthers turned the ball over four times and managed just one more field goal in a 62-56 loss to No. 7 seed Charlotte Harding University in the second round of the state 3-A Midwest regional Wednesday night at Ledford Senior High School.

The loss ended the Panthers’ season at 23-5.

“I would have liked for us to do a little bit better (in those final minutes),” said Ledford coach John Ralls. “The whole difference was them converting off our turnovers.”

Well, that and maybe Abrea Harris. Harris scored only 11 points for the Rams, but her ball-handling skills combined with her first-step quickness puzzled the Panthers all night.

In fact, Harding jumped out to an 8-0 lead early in the game and threatened to run away from the Panthers right from the start. It didn’t help that Ledford committed seven turnovers in the first six minutes.

But the Panthers calmed down as Emmalee Thomas found her 3-point shooting to help Ledford climb back into the game.

Thomas, in fact, drained a trey to put the Panthers up 28-25 midway through the second period to cap a nice little comeback.

The Rams fought back to take a 31-30 lead at the half, and through most of the second half, Ledford stayed right in Harding’s shadow although it trailed most of the way.

The Panthers finally tied the game at 53-all on a putback basket by Leigh Ann Midkiff.

But just when it appeared the Panthers had put it all back together, it all came apart.

Wilting under the Rams’ pressing defense, the Panthers turned the ball over four times in the next two minutes. The only field goal came from Thomas, who drained her fifth 3-pointer of the night on the way to a 19-point performance.

The final two minutes also saw Harris dissect the Ledford defense. Harris had been on the bench with three fouls, but she returned to the court when Ledford tied the game.

The first thing she did was dish off an assist to Brianna Hamrick under the basket for a 55-53 lead. Then came two straight Panther turnovers surrounding a Harris layup.

“If we take care of the ball, we have a chance to win,” said Ralls.

As it was, Harris took that chance away.

“The last two-and-a-half minutes we had to step it up,” said Harding coach Anthony Jones. “We wanted to get fouled and go to the free throw line, and we had to convert. We were actually trying to go to 43 (Thomas) to get her to foul out, but she’s a smart player.

“And we had to force them into those turnovers down the stretch,” said Jones. “That was important. We put some pressure on their point guard to make some decisions and we also relied on our speed.

“And Harris … She’s our everything person. She’s the type player that makes everybody else better.”

The victory improved the Rams to 22-3 overall.

Notes: In addition to Thomas, Midkiff had 15 points and Samantha Miller added 10 points for the Panthers … The Panthers had 23 turnovers in the game … Alexius Hampton paced the Rams with 14 points, while Latronda Morrow had 12 and Hamrick added 10.