Panorama girls beat Westwood, 39-36, make first state final in school history

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

The No. 2 seed Panorama Panthers (25-1) narrowly defeated No. 3 seed Westwood (22-1) in the IGHSAU state basketball semifinal today. They will face No. 1 seed Dike-New Hartford (25-2) in the championship game tomorrow, March 2, with tipoff at 4:45 p.m.

To watch from home, check out the IGHSAU livestream HERE.

The IGHSAU social media accounts will be posting updates of the final scores on X and Facebook, as well as Bound Iowa, which is posting live updates on its X account.

After Panorama jumped out to an early lead, Westwood began to chip away, leading by 1 at the end of the first quarter, and by 2 at halftime. However, much like their quarterfinal game against Grundy Center, the Panthers dominated in the third quarter. They erased that halftime deficit and went into the fourth quarter ahead by 7.

Unlike Grundy Center, Westwood didn’t go away quietly. They battled back and brought the game within 1 point thanks to a Brenna Johnson layup with just under a minute to play. After a few failed attempts at finding an open look, and several Westwood tips and deflections out of play, Tyme Boettcher slipped an inbound pass to Mia Waddle, who laid it in to give the Panthers a 3-point lead.

Waddle, Boettcher and Jaidyn Sellers carried the scoring load for Panorama with 12 points each. Boettcher also had 10 rebounds to give herself the double-double performance. Sellers nearly joined her with 10 rebounds and 9 points.

Dike-New Hartford is seeking its fourth straight state title. The Panthers fell victim to the Wolverines in 2022 when they were defeated in the state semifinals, 67-23.