Despite falling to the lady Kangaroos Friday night in Weatherford, lady Panthers’ coach Roshawnda Lassiter is optimistic about the Panthers’ performance.

“They had great basketball I.Q. tonight,” Lassiter said. “I think just them coming together and adjusting to different presses and making those decisions [was a strong point].”

The Panthers (Overall 4-12, District 1-8) lost to the Kangaroos (15-8, 6-5) 62-44.

The Kangaroos had a quick start, keeping the Panthers off the boards for the first five minutes of the game.

The Kangaroos really heated up in the 2nd quarter, scoring two three-pointers in a row by Kailin Davis and Jada Lewis respectively within 90 seconds of each other.

The Panthers struggled with turnovers throughout the game, with six in the 3rd quarter alone.

However the Panthers had their best shooting night of the season, with three-pointers scored by Alex Burns, Christine Vonder Haar and Meaghan Connor respectively.

“Court awareness was amazing tonight,” said Lassiter. “And shooting was great; at an all time high for us.”

Lassiter said the Panthers had better ball movement in the second half, but still had trouble executing plays.

“We need to build on shooting and just getting open and getting to the ball,” said Lassiter. “These are things we’ve been working on, and it’s gotten a lot better.”

The lady Panthers managed to cut the lead to 16 in the 4th quarter with multiple steals by Monique Lampkin and a three-pointer by Alex Burns, but ultimately fell short.

However, Lassiter said the team had a lot of positive momentum to build on going forward.

“They fought until the end and really competed every second on the court,” said Lassiter. “So that’s what we’re gonna keep on doing.”