The Duncanville Pantherette basketball team ran away with its Class 5A regional semifinal game Friday against Arlington Bowie, 61-40, at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.
But for both coaches, it was a matter of surviving through a game full of distractions.Whistles and missed opportunities kept Ducanville’s high-flying transition offense from gaining much traction through the majority of the game.“We couldn’t really get in our sync and then we got frustrated missing some easy things and not capitalizing when we got stops and that’s not the way we play,” Duncanville head coach Cathy Self-Morgan said. “We’ll bring it back tomorrow.”Duncanville (39-0) ultimately won the game in the second quarter when a series of Bowie missed shots and turnovers sparked Duncanville’s transition game and allowed a 13-2 run to begin the frame. The Pantherette’s would outscore Bowie in the second 20-12, leading to a 36-20 halftime score.Junior guard Ariel Atkins carried her team offensively through the second, putting up 11 of her game-high 20 points.The third was dominated by Duncanville senior forward Kiara Perry who put up 8 points of her total 16 in the quarter.On the converse, Bowie (32-6) struggled to find the bottom of the net throughout the game, shooting just over 30 percent from the field for a team that has averaged well above 40 percent throughout the season, Bowie head coach Kelly Carruthers said.“We didn’t dominate the boards like we needed to,” Carruthers said. “We didn’t take care of the ball like we needed to and we weren’t very consistent tonight.”Ashley Ferguson lead Bowie in scoring with 10 points in the losing effort.Duncanville’s season continues Saturday in the region finals against Lubbock Coronado (35-1)“They’re probably rubbing their hands together saying, ‘Come on’,” Self-Morgan said. “We didn’t do a very good job on these posts early and that’s their game.”More information
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