No. 6 Andover empties arsenal on top-seeded Elba, but Lady Lancers stave off late Lady Panthers threat to secure 4th consecutive Class D2 Championship

Written By Chris Brooks

GAINESVILLE — Friday night marked the second time in three years, and the third in the last four that the Andover Lady Panthers have met their Sectional archrival Elba in the main event at the end of the Class D2 bracket. In both contests played previously, the Lady Panthers gave everything the Lady Lancers could handle, but they could not quite dethrone the queens of the class.

After being upset by Whitesville last season in the Semifinals, they made sure they got one last crack at the top-seeded Lady Lancers, who in four year’s time, are going for their fourth straight Class D2 championship. The Lady Panthers wanted to make sure that this time around, they emptied everything that was loaded into their arsenal against them.

They would go on to do just that, but in the end, it would come down to the littlest of details. That being free throws, as Elba went on to nail key shots at the stripe, seven out of 10 in all to put a seal on their four-peat of the Class D2 title to evade a late rally from the six seeds in the fourth quarter to record the 48-40 victory at Letchworth.

“It was back and forth right from the beginning,” Lady Panthers coach Jake Bannerman said. “We definitely had our chances to take a lead, especially in the third quarter. They hit their shots, and Elba did when they needed to as well, mostly from outside. We missed some really easy gimmies in the first half. I thought they were high-percentage shots, but anything can happen in a Sectional title game. The nerves were up by the girls, and we were launching them off the backboard it felt like. This was definitely not from being outworked. I told the girls that if they were going to lose, it wasn’t going to be like that. That was definitely the case.”

The sixth-seeded Lady Panthers gave everything Elba could handle from start to finish, making them earn as many points as possible throughout the entire phase of the game. It all began in the first quarter, when both offenses started off rather slowly. The Lady Lancers would go on to garner the game’s first official edge with a 7-4 lead to break a tie off their first three-pointer from Taylor Augello.

Andover would proceed to take a one-point edge heading into the second after Livia Simon, who netted the latter of the two final baskets of the frame, gave them the 8-7 lead on a banked lay-in. The baskets both stemmed off a pair of Elba turnovers.

In the second quarter, it was more of the same, as the Lady Lancers garnered the lead back again on a Brynn Walczak three-pointer from deep to take advantage of the one-point lead themselves. A short time later, it would grow to as much as six with five of the next seven straight points coming off the hand of Leah Bezon, who nailed a three of her own with under three minutes left in the half to provide a 17-11 lead.

But the Lady Panthers made sure the momentum rode with them heading back to the locker room, as they netted the final basket of the first half from Emily Wahl, as she hit one-of-two at the stripe right after the runner to the cup to cut the Lady Lancers lead down to a single possession when the break approached.

“When we’re playing well, we can do everything,” Bannerman said. “We can attack the basket, we possess a lot of height along with it, and I thought at times that it became a deciding factor. Elba is a good fundamentally sound team. They hit the ball really well outside, and it’s hard to defend against a team that’s as good as they are. They had a wide range of high-percentage shooters. Every one of them can catch and shoot it, and you just hope and pray that someone misses at least one. But when you trade twos for threes, it eventually starts to add up.”

Andover made sure the balance of power remained in their favor right at the start of the third quarter, as they forced Elba into committing three straight turnovers at the beginning of the frame, two of which were cashed in for points, including a long, long three-pointer by Katie Calladine that came right before the shot clock sounded off on the offense to give them the 20-17 lead.

Not long after, Andover and Elba would go into a back and forth affair that ultimately sees the game becoming tied at 22 with Bezon doing the honors for the Lady Lancers with the second of her three three-pointers in the game. Since the tie, the top seeds made sure they wrapped up the return to the floor on a strong note by recording the final six points in the quarter which was backed by another three-pointer from Bezon and Augello to grow the advantage to six.

“Going into the fourth quarter, we held them to their lowest point total of the season,” said Bannerman. “I don’t think they’ve scored less than 44 points in a game at all this year. We had that until they started hitting some big free throws down the stretch. We managed to come up with a game plan that would hold them. We just couldn’t quite capitalize on some of our chances to back it up. If we made a couple of more shots at the line, made a few more rebounds, we would have won this game. But that’s what makes this game tough. It just wasn’t our night.”

Both teams would account for their largest output of points the entire night in the last eight minutes of play, as the back and forth fight moved forward with Elba maintaining their six-point lead on Andover. Tess Spangenburg had something different to say with nearly half the time removed off the clock, landing a big three-pointer to close the gap to within three once more.

But then, Elba would expand their lead to eight, which was the largest lead of the entire game between both teams, as Augello squared up to hit her third triple of the game, finding the open look from near the mid-section of the key to knock it home. Again, the Lady Panthers continued to show a large amount of poise to keep themselves right alongside Elba, as they recorded seven points in a row from Kelsie Niedermaier underneath to shave the Lady Lancers lead down with less than a minute remaining.

“Kelsie does so many things for us,” Bannerman said of his junior. “Her aggressiveness has improved so much in the past season. Last year, she was a great player on the defensive end, but she hung out a little bit on the offense. This year, she’s finally developing into that good, all-around player that she’s fully capable of becoming. Moving forward, she can play anywhere on the floor. She’s a good shooter, but she doesn’t like to do it. Hopefully, we can add that to her game for next year.”

In the end, the Lady Lancers looked to the charity stripe to finish things off, as they went on to net seven out of 10 possible shots in the last minute to secure their fourth straight Class D2 championship.

In the Andover scorebook, Wahl and Niedermaier led all scorers with a team-high 12 points each. Tess Spangenburg followed with eight points, while Katie Calladine and Livia Simon each followed with four points to round off the offense.


At the game’s conclusion, all-tournament selections were announced for the Class D2 bracket, with Whitesville’s Vanessa Hall and Hinsdale’s Ashley Chapman picking up a nod each, while Wahl and Niedermaier had nods for Andover.

The season has reached its conclusion for the Lady Panthers of Andover, as their brilliant season on the hardwood wraps up with an overall record of 17-7. The team will return the majority of its roster for next season, but will miss two major pieces to the puzzle with Graduation coming up at the end of June, as Wahl and Hayleigh Niedermaier will both be departing the school.

Looking back, Bannerman can’t help but appreciate all the work that both his seniors have done not only this year, but in previous seasons to become the players that they are now.

“All year when we needed something, Emily has been there for us. She finds ways to make things happen, and it sure will be tough losing her next year,” he said. “She’s our motor, and she does everything imaginable. We got Hayleigh back into playing basketball after a couple of years away, and she has become a force off the bench when we needed her to be one. But then, there are three juniors coming back and Tess as a sophomore joining them. It’s just a matter of finding that fifth girl that can fill in some big minutes.”

Bannerman added, “We played a week and a half without Emily with that ankle injury in Hammondsport, and I thought that really brought the best out of the girls to find the confidence that they needed. We wanted to put together a tough schedule to help us prepare for a game such as this. We knew we could be able to compete at the end, but I am so pleased with how they’ve battled all season long. We’ve played in quite a few close games, as opposed to blowouts, which have become a rarity this year. It’s helped prepare us as much as we possibly could.”

Andover        8   7   7  18 – 40

Elba                7 10 11  20 – 48



ANDOVER: Tess Spangenburg 3 0-0 8, Katie Calladine 1 1-6 4, Livia Simon 1 2-2 4, Emily Wahl 5 1-3 12, Kelsie Niedermaier 5 2-4 12. Totals: 15 6-15 40.
ELBA: Taylor Augello 6 0-0 15, Maddie Muehlig 0 2-4 2, Leah Bezon 6 2-2 17, Lauryn Engle 1 0-0 3, Dakota Brinkman 0 2-2 2, Brynn Walczak 2 3-4 9. Totals: 15 9-12 48.

3-point goals: Andover 4 (Spangenburg 2, Calladine, Wahl), Elba 9 (Augello 3, Bezon 3, Walczak 2, Engle).
Total Fouls: Andover 15, Elba 18. Fouled out: None.

Chris Brooks
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