Lady Panther used their Superior size and physical ability
The much bigger Lady Ozen Panthers used their physical style of play to put away the Magnolia Lady Bulldogs 61-35 Friday night in the Class 4A Area Round of the playoffs at the Campbell Center.
With the victory The Lady Panthers advance to the Region III Quarter Finals where they will face Barbers Hill Tuesday, 6 pm at the Campbell Center.
Ozen (31-4) gain control of the first quarter after Jerica Bolin dropped in a free throw to lead by two, 11-9 with 2:15 to go in the first quarter.
Allison Abendschein converted an offensive rebound while being foul and knock down the bonus free throw, tying the game at 11. Moments later the Lady bulldogs fail to score on two layups, leaving the door open for Asia Booker and Bealoved Brown who make good on a close range baskets to grab a 15-11 lead to end the quarter.
“We didn’t do a good job of keeping them off the boards, defensively and we were only down by four. I thought that was encouraging and that’s what we discussed at half time, limit our turnovers in the second half, keep them off the boards. They got too many second chance shots,” said Erika Ritter, Magnolia’s coach.
Ashley Richards banked home a shot from the lane and dropped in a couple free throws to get even the score at 15.
Ozen began use their size in the second quarter to distance their self. 6’2″ Freshman Low Post Player Jerica Bolin used the glass and converted a free throw to put the lady Panthers up 18-15. With the tallest Bulldog player at 5’9″, Magnolia was under sized to the bigger and physical Lady Panthers.
“A win is a win, so I had to stay positive about that. There were things that I felt like we could done a lot better,” Ozen coach Tammy Walker-Brown said.
Ozen’s speedy Point Guard Asia Booker created problems all day penetrating the lane and knocking down shots from the perimeter. She led the Panthers in scoring with
Despite the size factor, Magnolia was able stay close at the half down, 21-18.
In the second half The Lady Panther’s quickness and physical presence was affective as well as their defensive pressure. Nekia Jones, Alexandria Moten and Jerica Bolin crash the offensive boards while controlling the paint area blocking shots.
“Well the first half we had 15 turnovers and Ozen had to have double digits defensive rebounds,” Magnolia coach Erika Ritter said .
Magnolia (17-9) trailed by eight points when Booker netted two free throws, 30-22. Booker was virtually unstoppable as she spotted up for back to back 3-pointers to increase the lead 38-24.
“Luckily in the way the playoffs are structured you get two days to work on that, with this game behind us we can focus on the next round. It’s been a while since we gone this many games. We just want to continue on that path to the playoffs,” said Ozen Coach Tammy Walke-Brown.
Booker again had hand in four more points to end the third quarter, 42-27 when found Freshman Center Bolin down low for the easy layup as she finished out the quarter with a layup off a steal.
“We started off a little slow, we couldn’t get our offense and defense to work but once we got our team work together we just played,” Ozen’s point guard Asia Booker.
The Bulldogs were held to nine points in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was more of same.