Visiting Baldwin-Woodville rolled to 27-19 halftime lead over the slow-starting hosts of Ellsworth, led by 12 points from Anna Jordt and 8 from Maddy Jensen. When Kate Grosskruetz nailed a 3-pointer and Jordt a basket in the paint to set the 'Hawks up with a 13-point lead to open the second half, things did not look good for the Panthers.

'After shooting well and leading most of the game last week, I think our kids were a little shell-shocked at how well BW played out of the gate,' stated Panther Coach Jason Janke. 'We just couldn't find any rhythm on offense and didn't have a ton of energy on defense either. Hayley and Ava each hit a 3-pointer, or we'd have really been in some trouble.'

The Panthers called a time-out shortly into the second half, making some defensive adjustments that ended up helping the offense as well. After a couple of transition baskets from Autumn Earney, Hayley Bach nailed a 3 to give the Panthers their first lead. From there it was a back-n-forth battle until Ellsworth was able to force a lead of 7 at the 4:00 minute mark. Along with Earney's 23-point second half, the Panthers received a huge offensive boost from freshmen Ava Brookshaw & Molly Janke who combined for 19 points in the latter half. Janke nailed two long 3's in the run to get the Panthers back in the game and Brookshaw hit crucial baskets and two free throws down the stretch. Earney, Brookshaw, and Brianna Giese combined to go 9 for 10 at the free throw in the final 3:00 as the Panthers pulled out an extremely hard-fought 63-55 win.

'Statistics and points are certainly important,' said Janke, 'but I'll tell you what doesn't show up in the box score, and that's the will with which Brianna Giese played tonight. She is one of the best leaders you will find playing high school sports. She's one of the best communicators on defense that I've been around and her will to win is contagious. Her defensive intensity and what she infused into our team in the second half is immeasurable. We are lucky to have her.'

'Autumn handled what I'll call 'hard coaching' at half time and really came out to play in the second half. She really showed resolve in the second half and it was just a heckuva team effort to come back from 13 down as we were forced to do. It is hard to single out a sequence, but at about the 9:00 mark, I feel like we made a real move toward winning the game. Molly got a couple of shots to fall, Ava hit a couple of tough ones and Hayley really did some things on defense that we need to have done. Lily found some foul trouble, but Kaitlyn Peterson came in and picked up the pace on defense and that was really critical in getting the 'tide turned' in this game. Our coaches really thought Lily and Kaitlyn did a nice job in short stints doing just what our team needed. Just a really tough game, and a big conference win for our kids. I think Brianna said it best after the game…'Man, that was hard!' — We were really proud of the grit they showed.'

Autumn Earney led all scorers with 27 points, including a 9 of 9 effort from the free-throw line, while Janke and Brookshaw each added 13. Bach added 6 points on two critical 3-pointers and Giese rounded out the scoring effort with 4. Maddy Jensen led the 'Hawks with 23, while Jordt (12) and Grosskreutz (10) were in double figures as well.

Photos by Jack McLoone.