Panthers go out quietly

Porterville High senior shooting guard Kyla Hill clutched her jaw shut and closed her eyes, but after the emotional game against the Lady Broncos of Clovis North (6-4, 19-8), she was simply unable to hold back falling tears.

Despite the team’s effort, the Lady Panthers (5-3, 10-6) crumbled in the second round of the Division III playoffs, 56-37.

“We [each] could have been six inches taller,” Hill chuckled as she held back tears. “It would have helped tonight.”

Hill chipped in four points for her last high school game of her career.

The Broncos had the height that helped them dominate on the court — Rebecca Waller and Chay Coffman both check in at 6-foot-1.

“We are really a unique team, we have big tall girls and we have a lot of speed,” Clovis coach Shane Kiehlmeir said. “We played great full court, pressure defense tonight.”

But under all the circumstances, 6-foot Porterville senior Corianne Snyder still gave her opponents a run for their money. Snyder led the Panthers with 14 points and nine rebounds.

“I think our problem along the whole year was taking care of the ball; when we get pressured we usually turn the ball over,” Snyder said. “I still think we had a great season. We made it a lot farther than we thought we would. I don’t know what else I could have asked for out of this game. We played our hearts out.”

However, Snyder may not have had her best scoring game due to picking up three fouls in just the first quarter. Snyder was taken out, which left the Panthers struggling until the third quarter when she re-entered.

“Through the whole season my coach has told me, ‘Don’t swat at the ball’ and that’s when I realized I shouldn’t have done that,” Snyder said. “I probably could have stood straight up more.”

Assisting Snyder in points and leadership on the court was sophomore speed demon Alia Alvarez. Alvarez had 11 points, many of which were three-pointers.

“We are a very young team, so we don’t really know the aspect of slowing the game down,” Alvarez said. “But, I still love our seniors; Nancy, Kyla, Corianne, (Danelle Dohrman)... We still had a really great year.”

Alvarez plans on coming back stronger and faster next year with guidance from her coaches. The sophomore goal is to become a better point guard and be able to control the court more.

Valdez added two points whiles Chelsea James helped with five.

On the opposing side, Coffman lead her team with 14 points, DeVaughna Jenkins had 11 and Jessica Newman had 10 points.

“We didn’t take care of the ball very well tonight,” Porterville coach Brian Hill said. “Defensively, we made some mistakes, but I’m very proud [of the girls]. No one thought we would get this far and we did.”

The Broncos will play either Frontier or Tehachapi next week in the semifinals.