By Rob Whitmire

The SPASH Panthers dropped a 62 – 61 decision to the D.C. Evergreens at the fieldhouse Monday night.

The game was a make-up and the second time in three days that the Panthers and Evergreens met.

The Panthers took a 31 – 27 lead into the halftime break and broke the game open outscoring Everest 17 – 7 to lead 48 – 36 at the 9:12 mark of the second stanza.

Everest found their way back into the game hitting both ends of a bonus followed by four free throws on an unusual double technical foul called on the SPASH bench.

SPASH managed to hang on to the lead until the 1:13 mark of the period when Everest went ahead 58 – 57. The Panthers weren’t done yet and trailing 60 – 59 Leah Earnest hit two from the charity stripe with seven seconds remaining and SPASH was up 61 – 60.

The Evergreens drove the ball down the court and Taylor Petit, fouled in the act of shooting, put the game away with two free throws and one second remaining on the clock. Petit led all scorers with 24 points.

SPASH was led in scoring by Leah Earnest who lit up the board with 18 points. Madisyn Rogan added 15 and Maggie Negaard, 11.

SPASH hit 21 of 61 from the floor including seventeen 2-pointers and four 3-pointers. They shot 15 of 18 from the charity stripe. Negaard dished out seven assists and Rachel Sullivan pulled down eight rebounds for the Panthers.

With the loss the Panthers drop to 5 – 6 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference. Everest improves to 9 – 2.

The Panthers close out the regular season Thursday, February 16 when they travel to Wausau East for a 7:30 PM game.

The Junior Varsity lost 48 – 38 to Everest. Rachel Lummis led the Panther scoring with 13 points and the JV@ squad lost 39 – 27. Ariana Sotelo scored 12 points.

Panther Scoring

Varsity: Leah Earnest 18; Madisyn Rogan 15; Maggie Negaard 11; Jenna Bohanski 7; Halle Gregorich 4; Rachel Sullivan 4; Halle Pavelski 2.

Junior Varsity: Rachel Lummis 13; Izabell Eppinger 8; Kelsie Kostuchowski 6; Hailey Carlson 4; Kaylee Hintz 3; Rachel Placeway 2; Joleece Pecore 2.

JV2: Ariana Sotelo 12; Delaynie Simkowski 9; Dennessa Kohel 2; Haley Skowronski 2; Paylee Feltz 2.