Panama's Jessica Lyon puts up the game-tying 3-pointer during the fourth quarter of Saturday's Class D Far West Regional against Elba at Finger Lakes Community College. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

CANANDAIGUA — When the Panama girls basketball began the season 0-10 nobody imagined the Panthers would be the Section VI representative in the state tournament.

Well that’s exactly what the Panthers were doing on Saturday evening at Putt Moore Gymnasium at Finger Lakes Community College facing Section V’s Elba for a spot in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D final four.

That game started just like the Panthers season did, not very promising.

However, after trailing the entire game largely by double-digits, the Panthers found themselves in striking distance in the fourth quarter. With 4:27 remaining freshman Jessica Lyon sunk back-to-back 3-pointers to pull Panama level with Elba at 43-43 in the Far West Regional.

Feeling the pressure, Elba’s Lydia Ross and Sydney Reilly found another gear combining for four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and reclaiming the lead for the Lancers and the eventual 58-47 victory. Ross finished with the game-high 26 points, while Reilly scored 16 for the Lancers.

“We definitely came out sluggish, we weren’t getting many rebounds, our defense was a little slow,” Panama head coach Nicole Peterson said about the game. “Elba capitalized on that, Reilly and Ross are fantastic 3-point shooters. We came out at halftime, we came out with some fire under us. If we had that the whole game we would have had a different outcome.”

Lyon did not hit her first shot until the fourth quarter, so setting the table for her clutch moments was junior Kaitlyn Horton and senior Kylie Morgan attacking the basket for 18 and 11 points, respectively.

“Kaitlyn Horton is a fantastic player,” Peterson added. “Her ability to shoot the 3-pointer, but then also go in and hammer in on the post down below. She has great defense, she’s always our No. 1 defender out there. It’s always nice to have an all-around player out there and she’s definitely a key part of this team.”

“Kylie Morgan has been here a long time,” Peterson continued about Morgan. “Her ability to get the ball and read where the girl is, she can go up both left and right, she’s not a one-way girl. I’m glad to have her, sad to see her go.”

While it doesn’t show up as much in the scorebook, the driving force of the Panama offense bringing the ball down the floor was sophomore Kiera Loberg. Filling in the big shoes of 2023 Post-Journal/OBSERVER Player of the Year Mandy Brink, Loberg took over as the Panthers’ point guard and without her moving the ball the rest of the offense could not work.

“We started off 0-10, we had a rough start to the season,” Peterson said about her team. “Trying to find our new point guard, trying to find everybody else’s role. For these girls to overcome what they had to to get to this point is just remarkable in itself. It’s pure hard work, nothing was given to us this whole season. I couldn’t be more proud of them just to get to this point.”

Just like they caught on late in the season, the Panthers performed much better in the second half and even managed to tie the game on a clutch performance from a freshman.

“You could see it on her face, it was all kind of crazy for her,” Peterson said about Lyon. “She’s a great shooter, we pulled her up just for playoffs just to have her up there. We threw her in there just for her size and for her to come up with those 3-pointers you saw it on her face. That’s pretty awesome for her.”

However, Panama waited too long this time to find its footing and Section V’s Elba captured the Class D Far West Regional 58-47 to advance to the state final four. The Lancers will play Section II’s Northville in the state semifinals on Saturday at noon at Hudson Valley Community College.

PANAMA (47)

Cavness 0 0 0, CLyon 1 0 2, Morgan 3 5 11, Horton 7 3 18, Loberg 1 0 2, Markham 1 0 3, JLyon 4 0 11. Totals 17 8 47.

ELBA (58)

Reilly 5 3 16, Buczek 1 0 2, Chatt 2 1 5, Hall 0 0 0, Ognibene 2 4 8, Ross 9 3 26, Smith 0 1 1. Totals 19 12 58.

3-point goals–Horton, Markham, JLyon 3, Reilly 3, Ross 5.

Panama 5 12 15 15 — 47

Elba 13 14 13 18 — 58