Neers Swept by paNDAs

The Pandas came all the way out to Independence tonight for a triple header with the Neers.

The Frosh and JV Neer teams saw win streaks come to a halt against NDA. I’m not sure how about the length of the Frosh streak but the loss for the SK JV’ers was their first of the season in 14 games. They never were in the game as they simply didn’t bring their “A” game and played to an intimidated level. Maybe it was the pressure of the winning streak but it definitely wasn’t the girls’ best effort of the year.  Time to start a new streak on Saturday.

In the varsity match, the Pandas came out with some swagger and jumped out to a 12-5 lead. NDA let their swagger turn to relaxation while Stowers’ kids kept up a nice level of intensity and hustle. It looked early on like SK was going to get blown out but the next thing you know, SK went up by 4 points in the second quarter. Neer turnovers at the end of the half were converted to Panda baskets and NDA took a 24-21 half-time lead on the strength of a 7-0 run at the end of the quarter.

While I have seen Neer girls’ teams “fear the name on the jersey”, that certainly wasn’t the case with this SK team tonight. The only question though was whether or not the Neers would have a let-down in the second half like they did against South Oldham. 

SK came out in the third without a let-down. While they couldn’t chip into the lead, they played to a 10-10 draw with the Pandas in the quarter. The game got quite scrappy in the quarter as much of the game was played laying down skin on the SK hardwood. SK had trouble making shots in the fourth quarter and committed more turnovers but kept the score within shouting distance. NDA’s experience seemed to wear down SK going down the stretch. NDA wins by a final of 48-41 in a rough game.

Although SK loses their second game in a row, they really did put together a game where they found that they can compete with one of the better teams in the area. The Neers will need to remember the results of this test on Saturday as they take on defending regional champ Walton Verona at Walton.

Lots of the varsity game played on the floor.


Coach Stowers directing the D in the second half.


Kaitlyn Morrison gets called for a blocking foul.


Cookie had to use her wheels a lot tonight against the scrappy Pandas.


Abby O got beat up tonight. At one point, the refs stopped the game because they thought she was bleeding.  Just floor burns.