Portal-For the first time in years, both Portal varsity basketball teams hosted a state playoff game. Both teams came out on top. The Lady Panthers defeated the Turner County Titans 51-40 on Wednesday night. The Portal men's basketball team routed the Charlton County Indians 85-44.
Lady Panthers Rallies and Advances
Portal entered the 4th quarter holding onto a 4-point lead. The momentum was swinging towards the Indians, but defense and playing with pace led to the Panthers breaking away late. The Lady Panthers outscored their opponents 14-7 including scoring 7 unanswered points to go up by 13 points late in the game. The team could smell blood in the water when Portal's Glen Lowe converted a tough and-1 layup that put them up 7. The crowd and team erupted when the basket fell.
The game was a bit closer than Portal wanted to be after going into the second quarter with a 21-12 lead. The Titans came out of the break red-hot and went on a 13-0 run to go up 25-23 in the middle of the second quarter. The two teams would trade baskets that would lead to Turner County being up 32-31 going into halftime.
Portal Head Coach, Nicole Newton, spoke on how her team stayed locked in and withstood the Titans' run. "We knew they were going to go on a run, it is the state playoffs so no game is going to be easy", Newton said. "We just got to take those blows, recover, fix those mistakes and get back on top."
The Lady Panthers have been on fire over the last stretch of games and advance to the second round of the state tournament for the first time in program history.
"Once a team starts believing in themselves, they are very dangerous", Newton said. "Our girls are not relying on one player, it is a total team effort. We determine when we are done playing that is how it is going to go."
A balanced scoring attack paved the way for the Lady Panthers. London Blackmon led them in scoring with 15 points. Glen Lowe followed up with 9 points of her own.
Panthers' Men Dominate in Round 1
The Portal men's varsity team looked to start the state tournament off right with a win at home. The Panthers sit at the number 1 seed and will have homecourt advantage for the first 3 rounds if necessary.
Going into the half with a 49-20 lead, the Panthers remained in cruise control as they were dominant on both ends of the floor. Getting stops and getting down the floor fast made way for easy looks at the rim.
Things went Portal's way early as a huge second quarter run turned into a blowout victory for the Panthers. Defense was key in the win for Portal.
After going into the second quarter with a 19-13 lead, Portal's Elijah Coleman took the game over and set the gym on fire with his handles and finishing at the rim. Coleman scored 13 straight points in the 2nd quarter as part of a 16-0 run that flipped the game on it's head. Coleman had the crowd going crazy and made the defenders look silly.
Portal Head Coach, Jeff Brannon, said there is some polishing up to do despite the win. Limiting mistakes is at the top of the list for the future rounds.
The Portal backcourt took on the load in the scoring department. Joseph Thomas led all scorers in the game with 27 points. Elijah Coleman finished with 25 points including 18 in the second quarter.
UP NEXT:
The Lady Panthers will go on the road to take on the Wilcox County Patriots on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
The Panthers Men's basketball team will host Wilcox County on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
All game tickets are available on the Go Fans website. Tickets will be available beginning at 8 am Friday.