The Sheldon Panthers struggled with assists on Saturday (the School of the Ozarks Patriots had seven more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Sheldon ended up on the wrong side of a rough 45-21 walloping at the hands of School of the Ozarks. The result was an unpleasant reminder to Sheldon of the 51-38 defeat they experienced in the pair's previous head-to-head fixture back in February of 2023.
Mariam Lamb and Rylee Goodwin certainly did their best on Saturday to avoid the loss. Lamb scored 12 points along with five rebounds and two steals, while Goodwin scored two points. That was a full 57.1% of Sheldon's points, marking the 11th time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
School of the Ozarks' win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Holland Houston, who almost dropped a double-double on 12 points and nine rebounds. Lily Todd was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Sheldon has been struggling recently as they've lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-14 record this season. As for School of the Ozarks, the victory was the eighth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 14-4.
Sheldon will be playing in front of their home fans against Ballard at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Sheldon focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 on Saturday. School of the Ozarks will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against Chadwick at 5:30 p.m. on February 6th. Chadwick presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than School of the Ozarks in Missouri (Chadwick is ranked 101st, while School of the Ozarks is ranked 285th).
