The Ellsworth Panthers lost both games of their opening invitational in Wisconsin Dells on Friday and Saturday, losing to the Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln Red Raiders 70-57 and the Milwaukee Golda Meir Owls 56-54.

Game one was both closer and more of a blowout than the box score would make it seem.

The Panthers started out relatively hot, hitting on five three-point shots in their first 21 points, including back-to-back efforts by Omar Coulson to bring the Panthers within two at 23-21. Parker Woodland also came up with three blocks during this span and was a big part of what kept it close early.

The key word there was early. With the lead at 26-23 and just over 4:00 left in the first half, the Red Raiders went on a 10:00, 19-3 run that carried through the break and into the second half and effectively put the game out of reach at 45-26. The Panthers rebounded and actually outscored Wisconsin Rapids thereafter to close the gap, but they couldn’t climb out of the hole.

In a down game, the Panthers were a reasonable 19-46 from the field and 10-23 on three-pointers, but they were a dismal 9-19 from the free throw line. The silver lining player of the game was George Rohl who led the team in field goals, three-point shots and free throws, scoring a combined total of 20 points.

Even though Ellsworth lost by double digits at 70-57, it should be noted that without that uncharacteristic run the Panthers allowed in the middle of the game, they actually would have won by three points. They just needed to tighten up and play a full game on defense. Accordingly, the defensive effort was more complete in game two, and although the Panthers played it close throughout, it was the offense that came up short in this one.

The game started very evenly, going shot for shot, and Ellsworth took an early lead at 7-6. That’s when Jack Stoltenburg made his presence felt getting a steal and taking it the length of the court before dumping in a three-pointer to make it 10-6. However, the Owls outscored the Panthers 17-9 over the next 11:00 to take a four-point lead at 23-19.

The Panthers kept pressing as the clock wound down towards the half. With just over a minute to go, Parker Peterson and Woodland sunk back-to-back three-point shots in under 10 seconds of game time and almost tied it up before the break at 27-25.

By the midpoint of the second half, Milwaukee Golda Meir had pulled out to an eight-point lead at 43-35. Coulson and Woodland scored on two consecutive fast breaks to pull back within four. Ellsworth continued to battle, and with 4:30 on the clock they were within two points at 51-49. Unfortunately, that’s as close as they would get, and the game ended at 56-54.

Woodland was the offensive player of the game in this one as he led the team in scoring with 17 points. Coulson was the only other Panther to score double digit points while also leading the team in assists and co-leading in rebounds.

As a team, the offensive stats were actually worse in game two as the Panthers shot just 30% from the field, 22% on three-pointers and 55% of free throws, all of which are below the threshold that Ellsworth would like. It’s early in the season for this team, though, and they have plenty of time to work on playing a complete game on both sides of the ball. As such, Head Coach Derek Staley looks at this as a growing experience for the team.

 “In game one, Wisconsin Rapids hit 16 3’s, which is tough to overcome. We also turned the ball over a lot on day one. We did a little better at that on day two, and we defended better as well, but we did not shoot well,” Staley said. “Our guys will learn a lot from this weekend. We had a lot of guys playing in their first meaningful varsity action.”

Staley explains that health has been an issue for Ellsworth so far this season, so the hope is that they can work through this adversity in time for the beginning of Middle Border Conference play.

“We have been hit with a handful of injuries and illnesses to a few of our main rotation guys to start the season, so we are going to focus on getting healthy and getting better every day,” Staley said. “We have a lot to learn and get better at. We need to have a very focused, detailed week of practice.” 

With this, the Panthers start the season 0-2, albeit against non-conference teams. It’s some invaluable experience for Ellsworth who is looking to climb the conference rankings after a down season last year. Only one other team in the Middle Border has played a game so far, so this is essentially free experience that should hopefully help them gel ahead of the more meaningful games that are on deck.

The Panthers will play one more of these non-Middle Border Conference matches when they travel to Fountain City to play the Pirates on Tuesday, Nov. 28 before taking on Altoona at home on Friday and Amery on the road the following Tuesday.