Pana vs Mt. Zion: 5 Takeaways
Mt. Zion held on for an Overtime victory at home on Saturday against Pana, 62-56. It was a back and forth affair with good energy and effort from both teams. In this article we examine 5 key takeaways from the…
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Continue ReadingMt. Zion held on for an Overtime victory at home on Saturday against Pana, 62-56. It was a back and forth affair with good energy and effort from both teams. In this article we examine 5 key takeaways from the game.
- Jillian Hamilton is a 5’10 2022 from Pana. Jillian has a huge upside. She is strong and very athletic. When you see a girl that can consistently hit jumpers off the dribble and can shoot while fading one way or the other, you know you are seeing something different. Jillian has good control of her body and jumps well. She has the chance to be great if she can improve her ball handling and her shooting. Both are acceptable, but neither are elite. Both play well for a small college forward but she can be a D1 guard if she improves. She has that body and athletic ability.
- Emma Ewing and Lainee Wolter form a very nice guard tandem for Mt. Zion. Both girls are smaller (5’5-5’6) guards that can do it all. The Lady Braves go as these two go. Lainee had 19 points and Emma had 12 points and 12 boards. Emma was really hot early and Lainee took over late. Lainee clinched the game in OT with some clutch free throw shooting. These girls both play very good defense and can handle the ball. Emma tends to play off the ball a little more and Lainee tends to play the point, but both seem confident in either role.These two are the kind of players that small colleges should looking at. They have extensive experience in school and AAU ball and can contribute in many ways.
- Pana has had a good start to their season. At 6-2 they are showing the ability to make some noise in the SCC this season. Seniors Sway Denton, Rylee Beck and Rhylee Freeman are starters that provide leadership and experience to lead Pana. Sway has the potential to be a double figure scorer each night for Coach Storm. In the Mt. Zion game Rhylee Freeman had a nice game hitting from the 3-point line. If they are going to go far, these 3 will have to be the leaders for the underclassmen.
- Addison Rhoades and Taylor Fox are two seniors that add to the experienced lineup that Mt. Zion puts on the floor. Both girls are long and can score. Addison is 5’10 and chipped in with 12 points and Taylor is 5’9 and had 8. Both girls can score inside the 3 point line in a variety of ways with mid range jumpers and drives to the basket. Abby Scharf is a 5’10 2022 that showed a nice shooting stroke with range out behind the arc. She hit a 3-point shot and had a nice release. Her shooting can really be a weapon as other teams concentrate of Wolter and Ewing.
- Rachel Holthaus is a 5’5 2022 point guard from Pana. Rachel had a nice game with 12 points and one huge game tying 3 point shot late in regulation. She handled pressure well and showed some nice moves getting to the basket. Rachel used a nice hesitation move a couple of times where she had the defender believing she was going to change direction and then went right back at them into the lane. She had a couple of nice finishes in the lane and nice assists when defenders came to help. She has excellent point guard instincts and can score. With continued or work on tightening up her ball handling Rachel has a bright future.
This was an excellent early season matchup. Pana had just won a huge conference game over Greenville and Mt Zion is 6-2. So, both teams are out to a good start and looking to continue to make some noise.