ELLSWORTH — Trailing 24-14 early, Ellsworth needed to dig deep to find something in order to win. That they did, constantly forcing turnovers, running the fastbreak and getting to the free throw line to win the conference opener against Osceola 58-51 Dec. 2.

Not only did Ellsworth mount the comeback, they took a lead into the halftime break, closing out the frame with a buzzer three from the top of the key from sophomore Jenna Stoltenberg to lead 31-26. The Panthers continued out of the break firing, stretching the lead to 39-28. Osceola made pushes to get back into the game multiple times, but Ellsworth managed to stave them off each time.

“Saw a great team win. A great way to start conference play,” Head Coach Haylee Yaeger said. “It’s still early in the season, but overall I think the girls just really meshed well tonight.”

With freshmen Tate Huppert and Haylee Maher as well as Stoltenberg taking on major workloads as underclassmen, Ellsworth has had to grow up fast. Senior leaders Lexi Marks and Libby Groh have helped shape this team thus far.

“It’s been really fun getting the younger kids used to what a high school program looks like,” Marks said.

The defense collapses on drivers and rotates well, forcing 23 Osceola turnovers to Ellsworth’s seven. An outcome of that ball pressure is a lot of fastbreaks.

“The little things, the steals, the deflections, the little hype plays we call them,” Yaeger said.

Huppert and Stoltenberg are frequent beneficiaries of those, frequently leading the team in scoring and getting to the free throw line. Stoltenberg’s ability to make free throws no doubt changed the game, going 14-of-15 from the line.

“Jenna is one of our strongest leaders. It may not be verbally, but she leads by example and I think that just pushes the other girls,” Yaeger said.

Stoltenberg led the Panthers with 25 points, going an astounding 14-of-15 from the free throw line. Huppert also had a great night, shooting 7-of-16 from the field to finish with 18 points.

Marks posted seven points while also leading the team with a whopping six steals and three assists, and sharing the team rebounding lead with Groh at seven.

The team does lack a bit of size which they make up for in grit. After losing the rebounding battle 43-22 against Osceola, Yaeger said they are going to work on improving in that area.

Nonetheless, starting 1-0 in Middle Border Conference play is a huge first step in a long road. Yaeger said the win proves to the girls they can play with anyone in the conference.

“We really needed this win to get our season going. It feels really good,” Marks said.