The Ellsworth Panthers rebounded from a tough loss over a week ago at Saint Croix Central by beating the Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks (0-2) 63-41 and the Amery Warriors (0-3) 59-30.

The Panthers came out strong on both ends of the court and held the Blackwhawks to just a pair of points through most of the first half, at one pointing holding an 18-2 lead before getting out to a 35-11 point lead going into the break. Ellsworth went on to win, 63-41 behind senior Mason Anderson’s efficient 28 points on nine of 12 shooting from the field. Anderson hit six of eight free throw attempts, four of the five three pointers he took, grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists. Junior guard Jack Janke contributed a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double while also recording a trio of assists and a pair of steals against the Blackhawks. Junior started Spencer Schultz chipped in seven points, five rebounds, a steal and a block while featuring stringent defense.

“It was important to us that we came out with intensity and effort,” elaborated Head Coach Jordan Petersen. “It starts on the defensive end with communication and execution and then defense leads to offense.”

The next night, the Panthers kept rolling and beat the Warriors 59-30. Senior Shane Lange guided the Panthers with a dozen points on five of six shooting from the field, grabbing five boards and also recording four assists and a steal. Anderson had a similar stat line with 13 points, five boards, five assists and a block on five of 11 shooting from the field, including makes on both of his attempts from outside the arc. Schultz was electric from deep, hitting four of his five shots from three point range on his way to twelve points and four boards. Janke led the team in assists with six.

With nine days between games, the Panthers had a lot of time in the practice gym to make improvements.

“Defensive communication and focus has been a huge emphasis for us the past week,” Petersen said. “ We stress that defense takes multiple efforts and have been drilling in our main defensive concepts. The players have been working really hard to do those things in every drill and it was nice to see that hard work transfer to game success.”

With three games in five days before winter break, how has the team been preparing to be ready for that stretch of games?

“We have been really trying to focus on us and improving what we need to improve. When you have this many games in a short time span it is difficult to change much for each opponent, so we need to focus on what we do and execute it to our standards each game. “

Ellsworth travels to Prescott (4-1) on Monday to start Middle Border Conference (MBC) play against Cardinals, who already have conference wins over Somerset and Osceola.

Photo by Jack McLoone.