No slowing down

ROCKFORD - Up 17-7 on Waynesfield Goshen late in the first quarter, Parkway girls basketball coach Dan Williamson called timeout, worried that the team was starting to lose focus.

The Panthers didn't lose focus, instead building that early advantage into a 44-13 halftime lead and a decisive 67-32 win at Panther Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

"I challenged the girls beforehand to come in and be into it mentally for 32 minutes, and I think for the most part we did," Williamson said. "Last week we had a really, really tough loss to Versailles in the last minute, we had the lead and couldn't hold on. So that was the challenge tonight, being able to bounce back from a loss like that, and I thought the girls responded really well."

Parkway (3-2) got started with a remarkable stretch from Gabrielle Stober, who hit a three to put the Panthers up 5-1 before draining three straight layups in transition off Tiger turnovers.

The Panthers' defense held up its end, as W-G (0-5) didn't hit a field goal until 1:23 left in the first. That came at the one moment where Parkway looked shaky, with turnovers on two straight possessions as the Tigers got within 10. But Stober drew a foul right at the end of the quarter and sank both shots to stretch the lead to 12, and the Panthers never looked back.

The early lead was an encouraging sign after slow starts had hamstrung the Panthers in their previous losses.

"We lost by four to Crestview, we lost by two to Versailles, and it was due to basically two bad first quarters," Williamson said. "So that was a focus tonight, coming out quickly, trying to establish ourselves in the first quarter and not let that happen again."

It was Stober leading the way again for the Panthers, finishing with 22 points to follow up a 19-point effort in the loss to Versailles. After making the second-team all-MAC as a freshman last season, Stober has scored double digits in each of Parkway's first five games, with a season-high of 34 against Mississinawa Valley a week ago.

"Last year she was more of a jump shooter, a three-point shooter, and she still is, she can still knock down threes," Williamson said. "But she's really expanded her game in being able to drive and finish at the basket, and with her size and with her length, if she can do both of those, she's going to be a pretty tough player to stop."

A strong defensive effort from Parkway, including 11 steals, stifled the Tigers most of the game, but the Panthers had some trouble from senior guard Jordan Elliott. Elliott scored 19 of W-G's 32 points before coming out early in the fourth quarter.

"She just has a knack for finding the creases in the defense, whether it's man or zone," Williamson said. "She's a good shooter if she's open. She played the way that we saw her play, and she had a good game tonight."

A year ago, in Williamson's first season, Parkway won its matchup with W-G 54-31 to go to 3-3. The Panthers split their next two games, then lost seven straight and went winless in the Midwest Athletic Conference.

This year, Parkway already has its first MAC win in hand after beating St. Henry back on Dec. 3, and Williamson thinks his team is in better position than it was a year ago.

"We went into the Waynesfield game (last year) hoping we could play well, not really sure if we could. This year we knew we could play well and we did," Williamson said. "I told the girls after the Versailles game, we're six points away from being undefeated."

Parkway will look to pick up a second MAC win back at Panther Gymnasium on Thursday against Fort Recovery.