Westfield led for most of the first half.

But then in the final minute of the second quarter, Panama’s Mandy Brink broke free for a layup and absorbed the contact for a three-point play. Once she sank the free throw, Panama led 18-17 with 17 seconds left in the first half.

As it turned out, Panama didn’t relinquish that lead the rest of the game as a 12-0 run over the first 6:56 of the third quarter propelled the visiting Panthers to a 41-24 victory over the Wolverines.

“You always want to get a little momentum going into halftime,” said Panthers head coach Dennis Hinsdale. “(In the second half) I thought we attacked the basket better, I thought we rebounded better. Defense is what I preach and I thought we played better defense. … I’m just proud of the girls, they played hard.”

Westfield’s Haleigh Dellow shoots through contact from Panama’s Hannah Schauman during Friday’s CCAA Division 2 West game at Westfield Academy & Central School. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

Panama (2-1, 1-0) had an eight-point scoring advantage in each of the periods of the second half. Westfield (3-1, 0-1) got four points in the final 1:04 of the third quarter from Makartnee Mortimer, then just three points the entire fourth quarter. Panama had a 9-2 run over the first half of the final period.

“This is a litmus test to see where we are with the better teams, Panama being one of them,” said Wolverines head coach Chris Dole. “I think they are right at the top of the league and I think they have the best point guard in the county (Brink) … We did a pretty good job on her … that was the first goal. Obviously the second goal is to score, and we just didn’t do that. … Our defense is solid, our offense needs work.”

Brink led Panama with 12 points on the night, including a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first quarter and her three-point play near the end of the first half. Lilly Odell added 8 points for the Panthers while Kylie Morgan had 7.

Playing its third game of the week, Hinsdale thought his team looked tired in the first half, but put things together in the second half for the victory.

“This was our third game this week. I knew that we were going to be tired and we were, we showed it,” said Hinsdale. ” … Southwestern, Randolph, and then we come over here, that’s three tough games.”

Westfield senior Haleigh Dellow, who averaged over 20 points per game coming into the contest, was held to just 5 points on the night. Tanleigh Bestine led Westfield with 7 points, while Mortimer and Makenzie Schumaker had 5 points apiece.

“Our offense stalled out. We have a hard time scoring the basketball. We hang out hat on defense — I think we did a good job defensively — but we need to find different opportunities to score,” said Dole.

The Wolverines are back in league action Tuesday at Sherman. Panama has a nonleague game at Frewsburg on Wednesday.

PANAMA (41)

Bailey 1 1 3, Brink 5 1 12, Schauman 0 0 0, PRange 0 0 0, Hovey 0 0 0, Greene 1 0 2, Morgan 3 1 7, Horton 1 0 2, KRange 2 0 4, Markham 1 1 3, Odell 3 0 8. Totals 17 4 41.

WESTFIELD (24)

Kincaid 0 0 0, Dellow 2 1 5, Mortimer 1 3 5, Bestine 2 2 7, Hotchkiss 0 0 0, Schumaker 2 0 5, Gnadzinski 1 0 2, Nollinger 0 0 0. Totals 8 6 24.

3-point goals–Brink, Markham, Odell 2, Bestine, Schumaker.

Panama 7 11 12 11 — 41

Westfield 10 7 4 3 — 24