By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
The No. 2 seeded Panthers (23-1) hope to keep their outstanding season going against the No. 7 seed Grundy Center (21-1) in the first round of the 2A IGHSAU state basketball tournament tomorrow, Feb. 28 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines at 10 a.m.
Tickets to the game can be purchased on the Iowa Events Center website here.
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.
The tale of the tape
Both of these teams have dominated their regular season competition up until this point, but one more so than the other. Panorama’s average point differential in games this season is a staggering 30.4, while Grundy Center’s is 13.0. While winning games by double digits on average isn’t anything to scoff at, there’s a big difference between 30 and 13.
Part of that difference can be attributed to Panorama’s stellar offensive play this season. The Panthers 62.4 points per game rank fourth across all 2A teams. They get to those 62 points efficiently as well. The Panthers rank ninth in 2A for effective field goal percentage.
The Panorama defense has also been great at blocking shots and forcing turnovers this season, with the Panthers achieving seventh in steals with 15.8 and fifth in blocks with 5.1 in 2A.
While all these stats do favor Panorama, what matters most is winning games, and Grundy Center made the state tournament by doing plenty of that. They beat Nodaway Valley in the region 8 final to qualify for the state tournament.
Players to watch
Panorama
- Tyme Boettcher: 19.9 PPG / 7.4 RPG / 3.6 APG
- Jaidyn Sellers: 14.5 PPG / 8.8 RPG / 2.9 BPG / 2.3 SPG
- Mia Waddle: 9.5 PPG / 4.5 APG
Grundy Center
- Carlie Willis: 12.9 PPG / 7.5 RPG
- Ellery Luhring: 9.8 PPG / 6.8 RPG / 2.6 APG
- Lucy Lebo: 8.1 PPG / 2.6 APG