Clock strikes midnight for Lady Panthers

Sheldon sophomore Kelsey Hancock beats Drexel's Shelbi Musick for a layup Friday in the district championship game at Hume. Sheldon lost 45-18, ending their season with a runner-up trophy.

By Joe Warren

Nevada Herald

The Cinderella season came to an end for the Sheldon Lady Panthers Friday as they lost to the Drexel Lady Bobcats 45-18 in the Class 1, District 12 championship game in Hume.

The sixth-seeded Lady Panthers had upset third-seeded Hume in the first round of the district tournament Monday, then beat Montrose, the second seed, on Wednesday to make their first district championship appearance since before the Clinton Administration.

Drexel (19-7) just had too much quickness for the Lady Panthers to deal with.

The Lady Bobcats pressed Sheldon, creating many turnovers and fast-break points as they went on an 11-0 run in the first period and never looked back.

The top-seeded Lady Bobcats will move on to the sectionals in Lamar Tuesday, where they will face Dadeville.

"We were happy we made it this far," Sheldon coach Jason Irwin said after the game.

Irwin was showing off his newly shaved legs after the loss. The shaved legs fulfilled a promise to his team that if they made it to the district championship game he would break out the razor.

Drexel really pulled away in the third quarter when they turned a 22-11 halftime lead into a 35-13 advantage going into the fourth.

"The third quarter got us," Irwin said. "We just made too many turnovers in the end."

The Lady Panthers did make a better showing than the first matchup this season when Drexel beat Sheldon 61-21 on Jan. 11.

"I just wanted to slow it down against them," Irwin said. "We held them to 45 points this time."

Drexel was led by Ashley Musick, who scored 18 points. Jamee Freeman added 10 as the only other player in the game to break double figures.

Sheldon had trouble scoring all game, and that was especially true for leading scorer Ashley Danner.

Danner had 19 in the first-round win and 11 in the semifinal victory.

Hampered by foul trouble most of the game, Danner scored only four points Friday against Drexel.

Senior Jessie Moore led the Lady Panthers with seven points. Moore will be the only Sheldon player not coming back next season for Irwin.

"I'm glad my sophomores and one junior got this experience for following years," Irwin said. "We're going to miss Jessie."

Sheldon has eight sophomores and one junior this season, giving them a pretty deep and experienced team going into the 2005-2006 campaign.

The Lady Panthers finished the season with a 14-14 record.