Panther Valley came into its matchup with Schuylkill League Division 1 opponent Jim Thorpe playing confident basketball, having won three straight games.

The Panthers were able to continue that confident play against the Olympians on Monday, making critical plays down the stretch to thwart off multiple Thorpe attempts to take the lead, and defeated the Olympians 48-44.

“Our girls are playing with confidence right now,” said PV head coach Rob Kovac. “More than anything, I think that’s the difference for us during this four-game win streak. We have developed an identity, and our kids play really hard.

“And it has been a total team effort, with everyone stepping up. Maddison (Maynard) has been seeing double and triple teams during this whole stretch, and we have had other girls make plays for us. Again, confidence playing a huge factor there.”

The Olympians - who have been battling through injuries of late - were missing a couple starters, but they battled the Panthers tough throughout the game.

Thorpe led 9-8 after the first quarter, and then continued its strong play in the second frame to carry a 24-21 advantage into the half.

The Olympians’ defensive play served as the catalyst to their solid play in the first half, forcing 11 Panther Valley turnovers.

With Thorpe trailing 17–15 late in the second, back-to-back triples from Mackenzie Yuhas, and another hit from behind the arc by Gabby Cinicola helped Thorpe finish the second quarter strong.

Maynard paced PV with 10 points in the first half.

“Right now, we’re down three starters from the beginning of the season,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Nadia Gauronsky. “When you’re in a rebuilding year and then you have some injuries like we have had, then that becomes kind of tough, so I’m really proud of the girls and the way that they battled tonight, and the effort that they played with.

“Defensively, we played really tough tonight as well, and I think we have played good defense throughout the year. Just right now, with the obstacles of all the injuries we have, our girls need to continue to gain more varsity experience, and gain more confidence in all the things that we do. But again, I’m very proud of their effort tonight.”

The Panther Valley offense and defense both got going a bit in the third, as it was able to outscore Thorpe 10-4 in the quarter. Sera Robin got hot from outside in the third, hitting back-to-back three-pointers. She also added a nice floater from the left side of the lane on a hard dribble drive to spur the Panthers’ run in the third.

The Olympians tried to steal back the momentum and the lead from the Panthers in the fourth quarter, but were never able to do so. A key bucket from Maynard - plus the foul - gave Panther Valley some breathing room (36-32) at the 5:13 mark, which was then followed up by a Morgan Orsulak deuce to make it a six-point Panthers’ advantage.

Still trailing by six (44-38) late in the fourth, Yuhas hit a big triple to cut the deficit to three. Thorpe would get as close as two (46-44) with about 20 seconds remaining, but PV held on for the road victory.

“We wanted to come out and play man-to-man, but our depth is a concern there, so the plan was to get through the first half playing zone and stay out of foul trouble and then go man, which we thought we could do some damage in our man defensively,” said Kovac.

“I’m just really proud of our girls, and I want to credit them for their progress and work. Thursday we head up to Pine Grove, which if we are able to come away with a win, we give ourselves a real shot to contend for a league playoff spot. From a year ago to now, we are thrilled with our development.”

THE RECORDS ... Panther Valley is now 9-5 overall, and 4-4 in the league. Thorpe dropped to 7-6 and 3-5.

LEADING SCORERS … Maynard led the way for PV with 15 points and seven rebounds. Orsulak added 11 points and seven boards. For Thorpe, Yuhas scored a game-high 21 points. Brianna Snisky was a terror on the boards for JT, collecting 15 rebounds.

LEAGUE STANDINGS … It’s going to be tight for the second Division 1 wildcard spot. Pine Grove (5-3), Panther Valley (4-4), and Jim Thorpe (3-5) are all in the hunt, while North Schuylkill (8-0) and Blue Mountain (7-1) appear to be cemented into the league playoffs from Division 1.

PANTHER VALLEY

Krapf 3-1-2-8, Vermillion 0-0-0-0, Robin 3- 1-3-9, Maynard 7-1-1-15, Orsulak 4-3-4-11, Yuricheck 2-0-0-4, McAndrew 0-1-2-1. TOTALS: 19-7-12-48.

JIM THORPE

Cinicola 2-1-4-7, Hartman 2-0-0-5, Snisky 2-2-2-6, Ginopolas 1-0-0-2, Dart 0-3-6-3, Yuhas 6-6-6-21. TOTALS: 13-12-18-44.

Panther Valley 8 13 10 17 - 48

Jim Thorpe 9 15 4 16 - 44

Three-pointers: Panther Valley - Robin 2, Krapf 1; Jim Thorpe - Yuhas 3, Cinicola 2, Hartman 1.