Fabulous five

Published 10:14 pm Monday, February 8, 2010

The Pink Panther are undefeated in the 12-and-under girls’ recreation basketball league.

But that is not the most impressive aspect about team’s season – it’s how they did it.

The Pink Panthers have just enough players to make a starting lineup, with five, and that’s it.

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“It’s been tough,” head coach Escherika Williams laughed. “But it’s been a lot of fun.”

The coach said there was one thing that every team practice had – running.

“We ran a lot because I didn’t want them to get out breathe for the games, I wanted them to be in the best shape possible.”

Getting the her team in shape is exactly what coach Williams has been able to do and on Monday night, the girls put their undefeated record on-the-line against the second best team in the division, the Dream.

After getting off a to a slow start, the Pink Panthers led by five points, at 8-3, after the first quarter and then turned things on for the remainder of the game.

The team was able to extend its lead to 10 points by halftime, leading 15-5.

In the second half, the Panthers were able to turn defense into offense, as it held the Dream to just 12 points in the final two quarters, while scoring 24, including finishing the game on a 10-0 run, winning 39-17.

Tysheria Ryals led the way, scoring 15 points, while Chelsea Drakeford and Laki Williams each added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The win improved the team to 8-0 on the season, while the Dream fell to 4-4.

“I have the perfect team,” said coach Williams following the win.

“These girls fight for this game.

“They really love this game and show it a lot of respect – it has been a lot of fun all season long,” she added.

In the game leading up to the Pink Panthers and the Dream, the Bulls defeated the 76ers, 34-15.

“This was out last game before we finish up the season in Saturday,” Bulls’ head coach Justin Cope said.

“There are three things that I told the kids I wanted to do all season long, play hard, give good effort and have fun and that is what the kids have done all season long.”

Devin Suddith led the way for the Bulls as well as all scorers with 16, while Jabriski Williams also added eight points for the Bulls.

The win improved the Bulls to 5-4, while the 76ers dropped to 1-5.

“These kids have competed all season long. I hope they have had a good season, learned a lot about the game of basketball and had fun along the way,” Cope said.