Breaking News
Latest News

Panama Girls Claim Fifth Sectional Title

By Matt Spielman 5 min read

Entering Saturday, Kaitlyn Horton had made zero 3-pointers this season.

The Panama sophomore picked a heck of a time for her first.

Horton drained a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give the top-seeded Panthers a five-point lead and her team hung on down the stretch to beat No. 3 Sherman 38-33 in the Section VI Class D championship game at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex.

“Usually she takes that first step forward and she’s over the line,” Panama senior Mandy Brink said. “She told me after, ‘I made sure I took a small step so it counted as a 3.’ That was huge.”

The Wildcats, Section VI’s two-time defending champion who lost in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association final a year ago, hung with Panama the entire way.

“We made them earn every single point. There’s no shame in losing to a Panama team, but it hurts extra when it was that close,” Sherman head coach Emily Eckwahl said. “Outside of our team, our families and our community, everybody thought we were going to get rolled over today. I’m thankful that we proved them wrong.”

Now the Panthers, who won their fifth sectional crown, will head to the Far West Regional at 1 p.m. next Saturday at the Buffalo State Sports Arena against a Section V opponent yet to be determined.

“We owed them one. I had written ‘RTF-2’ on every practice sheet that I posted. The girls asked what it meant. … After we beat Franklinville I said ‘Remember the feeling,'” Panama head coach Dennis Hinsdale said. “Two years in a row they got us. I didn’t want to go home feeling that way again.”

The Rochester area will crown its Class D champion Monday night.

For a while Saturday, it looked like Sherman might be defending its Far West Regional crown next weekend.

The Wildcats led 4-0 early and 14-5 after a first quarter during which five different players scored and the team turned the ball over just once. Panama, on the other hand, made just one field goal and turned the ball over five times.

“In terms of what the game plan was drawn up, the girls took it and ran with it,” Eckwahl said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better start.”

Although Sherman never relinquished its lead before halftime, the tide certainly began to turn in the second quarter. Panthers senior Lilly Odell made a 3-pointer just over a minute into the period and Brink made her lone 3-pointer of the game just past the halfway mark as part of a 9-1 run to start the quarter.

Senior Hayden Fisher made the Wildcats’ lone field goal of the period just before halftime as Sherman held on to a three-point lead.

Panama took its first lead of the game with 1:44 remaining in the third quarter when Brink found junior Kylie Morgan for a transition layup. Brink followed with a layup of her own as the Panthers led by three with just over a minute to go in the period.

“It was a relief. I don’t know if we’ve played a worse half,” Hinsdale said. “Give Sherman credit, (Eckwahl) had a heck of a defensive scheme. We weren’t prepared for it.”

Senior Paige Gratto’s 3-pointer tied the game for the Wildcats on their next possession, but Horton answered at the other end as Panama led 27-25 entering the final eight minutes.

“It’s a very hard defense. It mentally and physically drains us,” Brink said. “People who usually don’t score … stepped up tonight. I’m proud of each and every one of them.”

Gratto again tied the game on Sherman’s first possession of the fourth quarter, but Morgan scored inside before Horton’s 3-pointer from the top of the key made it 32-27 with 6:16 remaining.

“I guess that was pretty big,” Hinsdale said.

Back-to-back buckets from Gratto later made it a three-point game, but senior Hannah Schauman’s lone basket of the afternoon pushed the Panama lead back up to five.

With 1:07 left in the game, Fisher scored to pull the Wildcats within three, but Sherman missed a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws on its next possession and Brink sealed the victory at the foul line for the Panthers.

“It’s absolutely amazing. We’ve worked so hard for this, but it’s been … stripped from us these last two years,” Brink said. “We knew it was our turn so we were leaving everything out on the court today.”

NOTES: Panama shot 12 of 43 (27.9%) from the field, including 3 of 11 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over nine times. … Brink finished with a game-high 15 points to go along with five rebounds; Morgan had 9 points; Horton had 7 points and 10 rebounds; and Schauman had three steals for the Panthers. … Sherman shot 13 of 47 (27.7%) from the field, including 2 of 20 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 11 times. … Fisher had 13 points and three assists; Gratto had 11 points and seven rebounds; senior Leighanne Swan had eight rebounds; and junior Tayden Persons had six rebounds for the Wildcats.

SHERMAN (33)

Bates 0 0 0, Persons 0 0 0, PGratto 5 0 11, Wagner 0 0 0, TGratto 2 0 5, Swan 1 1 3, Martin 0 1 1, Fisher 5 3 13. Totals 13 5 33.

PANAMA (38)

Brink 5 4 15, Schauman 1 0 2, Greene 0 2 2, Morgan 3 3 9, Horton 2 2 7, Range 0 0 0, Markham 0 0 0, Odell 1 0 3. Totals 12 11 38.

3-point goals--PGratto, TGratto, Brink, Horton, Odell.

Sherman 14 3 8 8 -- 33

Panama 5 9 13 11 -- 38

Starting at /week.