Panorama evidently needed a quarter to wake up.
The second-seeded Panthers rebounded in a big way from a frustrating opening quarter and beat Grundy Center 59-49 to earn a spot in the Class 2A semifinals for the second time in three years.
An 8-0 run spanning the quarter break got Panorama back into it and another 8-0 burst put the Panthers ahead to stay late in the third quarter. The keys were offensive rebounding and a full-court press that rattled the Spartans and led to frequent turnovers.
Panorama built a 38-30 rebounding advantage and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, leading to a 25-9 edge in second-chance points. The Panthers also came up with 15 steals in forcing 20 turnovers and took care of the ball themselves after their shaky start.
Morgan Crees led the charge with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting. She also grabbed nine rebounds and made four steals. Multi-talented athlete Jaidyn Sellers added 18 points and also came up with nine rebounds and four steals, plus three assists. Seller is a three-time state track champion in the 100 and 200 and will play softball at Iowa.
Mia Waddle also reached double figures with 13 points and she, too, had four steals. Tyme Boettcher, the team’s leading scorer with a 19.9 average, had eight points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Carlie Willis led Grundy Center with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Ellery Luhring scored 13 on 5-for-6 shooting and Laney Dole added 12, going 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Grundy Center was shooting 51 percent after three quarters, but went 3-for-16 in the final 8 minutes and in the end, gave up 23 points off turnovers.
Panorama fell behind 15-4 and trailed 15-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Panthers had made just 3-of-16 shots at that point and had turned it over six times. But they had just four turnovers the rest of the way and their shots started to fall. When they didn’t drop, Sellers or someone often was there to keep the possession alive. Eight of Sellers’ nine rebounds came on the offensive end.
Grundy Center managed to stay ahead until Waddle hit a 3 to tie it at 33 in the third quarter. It was tied twice after that before Waddle stole the ball and took it in for a layup to start the eight-point burst that put the Panthers ahead to stay at 44-37.
Panorama improved to 24-1 and will play again at 11:45 a.m. Friday. Grundy Center, in the tournament for the ninth time, finished 21-3.