The Panther wrestling team lost a close meet to Fulda/MCC Tuesday night at Tracy by a score of 33-27

"It was a tough meet to lose,” said Panther Coach Travis Christenson. "We were wrestling without the services of Adam Snyder, Andy Nelson and Jordy Rolling.

The Panthers got a pin from James Prairie and major decisions from Chia Thao, Ross Ryan and Dan Dieter to put them in a position of trailing 27-30 going into the heavyweight match. Mike Schreier who normally wrestles at 215, had to step up to the heavyweight match and he unfortunately lost 5-2 to seal the win for the Warriors.

Close game turns into rout

The Panther girls' basketball team solidified their standing in the 212 Conference by beating Yellow Medicine East in convincing fashion Thursday night at Tracy, 66-41.

Tracy/Milroy/Balaton's season record improved to 11-5 and 10-1 in the conference. The loss dropped the Sting's season record to 10-8 and 7-6 in the conference.

A pair of three pointers by Alyssa Kirk brought TMB a 6-5 lead in the opening minutes and served notice that the Panthers had come to play. The Sting fought back and led 14-12 at the end of the first period.

A free throw by Kirk, a basket by Kasey Loeslie, a pair of field goals (one of them a three pointer) by Jillian Tholen and a field goal by Jenna Schaar produced a 10-0 TMB run in the opening three minutes of the second quarter put the Panthers in the lead for good. By the end of the second period TMB was on top 31-24 and were never challenged the rest of the game.

"We did a good job of establishing a lead and then holding on to it," said Panther Co-Coach Paul Soupir. "When we do a good job on defense then our production on offense follows. We also recognized situations and hit the open player well."

The Panthers had four players in double figures. Jillian Tholen led the way with 16 points. She was followed by Tessa Nelson with 15 while Loeslie and Kirk had 13 each. The Panthers pulled down 31 rebounds ( Nelson 9, Kirk 5) to 16, had 20 assists ( Schaar 5, Kirk 5) to 13, had 14 steals (Tholen 4) to 11, 3 blocks (Nelson 2, Loeslie) and turned the ball over only 9 times to 23 for the Sting.

The Panthers hit 27 of 54 field goal attempts for 50% while the Sting hit 15 of 47 for 32%.

Boys play tough against 212 leaders

The Tracy/Milroy/Balaton Panther boys' basketball team lost a 212 Conference match-up to Yellow Medicine East at Granite Falls Tuesday night by a score of 83-71. The win clinched at least a tie for the conference championship for YME and they will have chance to win it out-right with a win over KMS Friday night.

"We had too many turnovers and too many missed free throws to win this game," said Panther Coach Nat Boyer

The Panthers fell behind in the first period as the Sting out-scored them 22-10 to give them the 12-point margin that decided the game. T/M/B had a good second quarter and put up 22 points to YME's 19 and closed to a 41-32 halftime score. By the end of the third quarter the Sting had opened up the score to 62-49 but a last quarter surge by the Panthers closed the final score to 83-71.

Eric Peterson led T/M/B in scoring with 17 points and he was joined by Sean Kirk with 14 and Donald Strand with 12. T/M/B pulled down 32 rebounds ((Kirk 15) to 25, had 9 assists (Ladehoff 5) to 23 and 9 steals (Kirk 3, Strand 3) to 12. The Panthers committed 21 turnovers to 23 for the Sting.

YME hit 33 of their 58 field goal attempts for 57% while T/M/B hit 28 of 61 for 46% The Sting hit 13 of 20 free throws while the Panthers converted 11 of 27 attempts.