Basketball Recap: Natalie Vermillion's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Panther Valley over Pine Grove

It was a proper cat-fight when Panther Valley challenged Pine Grove on Friday. The Panther Valley Panthers took a 57-46 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Pine Grove Cardinals. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 497th, while the Cardinals are ranked 248th).

Panther Valley's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Natalie Vermillion, who went 6 for 14 en route to 18 points and six rebounds. Janessa Prudente also deserves some recognition as she grabbed her first steal of the season.

Pine Grove's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Callee Leffler led the charge by putting up 16 points. That's the most points Leffler has posted since back in December of 2024. Hollynn Sampson was another key player, earning 12 points.

Panther Valley dropped their record down to 8-13 with the defeat, which was their fourth straight at home. Their recent woes sure aren't a result of their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 36.7% in those games and 21.5% outside of them. As for Pine Grove, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-7 record this season.

Panther Valley has already played their next match (against Pottsville), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Pine Grove didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 57-36 loss against Schuylkill Haven on the 3rd.