By Randy Arrington
SHENANDOAH, Feb. 8 — Sixth-seeded Strasburg jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in Monday night’s Region B quarterfinal at Page County, but the third-seeded Panthers went on to outscore the visiting Rams in all four quarters en route to a 57-36 win.
“I don’t know what happened early…maybe we overlooked them a little bit and were looking ahead,” PCHS head coach E.J. Wyant said after Monday night’s win. “We started slow, but we cleaned it up.”
After getting down 7-0, the Panthers went on a 10-1 run to close out the first quarter and then held Strasburg to only four points in the second frame.
“We didn’t take care of the ball early,” Coach Wyant said.
The home team lead 18-12 at the half and never looked back. Down the stretch, Page outscored Strasburg 17-11 in the third and 22-13 in the final eight minutes.
Page was lead on the night by senior Taylor Hankins with 21 points.
“I feel like when she’s aggressive and really attacking we’re really good, and I thought she played really well tonight,” Coach Wyant said after Monday night’s win. “She was mentally tough tonight.”
While no other Panther finished in double digits, the scoring was spread out over seven players. Junior Caris Lucas had seven points, while junior Leah Hilliard, senior Hannah Southers and junior Gracie Mason each had six points in the quarterfinal round.
Strasburg was lead by standout junior point guard Nyla Sperry, who put up a game-high 22 points. Sperry had two three-pointers in the final frame, as well as 11 of the Rams’ 13 points in the fourth quarter.
The Rams end their 2021 season at 4-9.
The Panthers (9-3) will now advance to the Region 2B semifinals, where they will host a second-round game due to a first-round upset. Seventh-seeded Staunton defeated No. 2 Madison County, 60-58, on Monday night. So, Staunton will travel to Page on Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off.
“We’ve got to rebound better, box out, take care of the ball and play team basketball,” Coach Wyant said of the keys to making it to Thursday’s regional championship. “That’s what got us where we are.”
The PVN Sports “Player of the Game” for Monday’s regional quarterfinal was PCHS senior Taylor Hankins.
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