“This is a tough place to play,” the Panama head basketball coach said after his team’s 53-42 victory over the Bears during Thursday night’s Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 West matchup.

Moments earlier, the Panthers (6-1, 2-0 CCAA-2 West) — who held a 19-point lead with just over four minutes left in the game — braved a run after eight straight points from the Bears (8-3, 1-1), capped by back-to-back buckets by Mikayla Gabalski-Jones, narrowed their deficit to nine with just over a minute left to play.

“When we got it up to 19 points and I said, ‘Let’s just get the ball in the paint,” Angeletti said of the approach. “I told them to slow down a little bit so that we can do the things that we do and take care of it on defense. We got a little anxious on shots. Give (Frewsburg coach Jeff Collver) all the credit in the world for adjusting defenses. It took us off-guard, but we adjusted well to it and we started attacking the hoop again.”

And, in crunch time, senior Kylie Schnars, who finished with a game-high 24 points, did just that for the Panthers, driving for a layup to close out the game with 16.5 seconds left in the game.

Panama’s Natalie Angeletti drives to the basket. P-J photo by Cameron Hurst

“I think that’s the first team we’ve really gotten pressed by,” said Angeletti, whose team entered Thursday ranked second in Class D by the New York State Sportswriter’s Association.

“We definitely didn’t want to give up,” Collver said of his team’s effort. “I liked how hard we played. I didn’t think we backed down at all. We had some mental mistakes, but we’re a really young team and that’s going to happen, but they’re Panama — we knew we had to be almost flawless tonight and we weren’t anywhere near that.”

The Bears struggled in the opening quarter, finding very few answers in defending Schnars, Natalie Angeletti and Mandy Brink and allowing the Panthers to take a 20-7 lead heading into the second quarter.

“I thought we had about a four-minute span in the first quarter where things got away from us,” Collver said. “It was about a 10-point swing that haunted us throughout the rest of the game.”

But, Frewsburg — led by 16 points from Gabalski-Jones and 13 from Elise Sposato — refused to go away, holding the Panthers to just 9 points in the second quarter to narrow the deficit to 29-16 at the half.

“We just have to calm ourselves down a lot sooner,” Collver said of his team. “But yet, we were still within 10 or 13 points the entire game. Every time they seemed to want to pull away, we reeled them back in to within 10 or so.”

The Panthers nearly pulled away in the third quarter as Angeletti, who recorded a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, Brink, who finished with 11 points, and Schnars helped them ride an 11-4 run to take a 43-24 lead over the last six minutes of the period. A bucket by Sposato narrowed Panama’s lead to 17 heading into the fourth quarter.

“Our strength, obviously, is inside,” Angeletti said. “They took it away for a little bit and then we found it again. I just think we forced it a couple of times and we abandoned it.”

“We have no size whatsoever that can come close to battling (Angeletti and Schnars) in the paint,” Collver said. “So, we have to do it as a team. And (Brink) — she’s been overachieving since she was so small.”

Angeletti was also impressed by the freshman guard’s performance.

“Mandy is scrapper,” he said. “She’s a hustler. She does not play like a freshman. Occasionally, she makes freshman mistakes, but for the most part, she plays above her level.”

Still, Angeletti is hopeful that his team will be able to take a lot from Thursday’s game with the league schedule well underway and a matchup with Southwestern looming next week.

“Our division is tough and we have some non-league wins that are right up there, too,” he said. “(Frewsburg) put some pressure on us and I liked the way we handled it for a couple of quarters. I just want to see consistency.”

NOTES: Angeletti recorded seven steals and dished out a team-high four assists. Schnars also recorded five rebounds. Alex Hultberg led the Bears in rebounds with 11 boards, while Amanda Dilts grabbed eight. Angeletti and Reagan Chitester were named Character Athletes of the Game immediately following the contest.

PANAMA (53)

Brink 5 0 11, Lyon 1 0 2, Odell 1 0 2, Angeletti 7 2 17, Bailey 1 0 2, Watson 0 0 0, Morton 0 0 0, Schnars 6 6 19, Harvey 0 0 0. 21 8 53.

FREWSBURG (42)

Chitester 1 0 2, Hultberg 1 1 3, Carlson 1 0 2, Sposato 5 1 13, Schrecengost 1 2 4, Gabalski-Jones 5 4 16, Constantino 1 0 2. 15 8 42.

3-point goals: Sposato 2, Gabalski-Jones 2, Brink, Angeletti, Schnars

Panama 20 9 14 10 — 53

Frewsburg 7 9 10 16 — 42