In the battle with No.1 player in the country Lauren Cox, the Duncanville Pantherettes defeated the Flower Mound Lady Jaguars 47-38 in the area playoff game. This was the second matchup between the two teams this season.

“Flower Mound has a great group of girls,” Pantherette head coach Cathy Self-Morgan said. “My girls showed their resiliency and toughness in tonight’s win.”

This game was intense on both sides of the floor. Both teams played great defense holding their teams to season lows in scoring. The Panthers played a better scheme than the Lady Jaguars by distributing the ball better throughout the game and showing different looks to try to control the standout post-player Lauren Cox who put up 32 of her teams points in their matchup the week before.

“Lauren Cox is a great player and has a great game down low,” senior center Ciera Johnson said, “She will be a great contribution to Baylor at the next level.”

Tae Davis and Nina Alvarez played lock-down defense on the guards for Flower Mound. Also making big contributions were Aakilah Caldwell and Aniya Thomas making big three pointers late in the second half to keep the Panterettes on top.

“We really distribute the ball well” Self-Morgan said. “We really got after it, leaving it all on the floor in this win.”

Zarielle Green lead all scorers with 16 points and Ciera Johnson had 12 points and 15 rebounds. Green played beautifully and drove the ball constantly against the 6’4 beast Lauren Cox drawing fouls in this big game to get to the line. Madison Townley also guarded the post player in this battle while Self-Morgan went to a smaller lineup giving Johnson a rest. Cox scored a few times on Townley by just using her high-advantage inside the paint.

“Lauren is a great player and she has a great jump shot,” Townley said. “I really played hard against her trying to stop her game.”

The Pantherettes are now heading into the regional quarterfinal to play against the Plano Lady Wildcats. The Pantherettes lost last year in the second round to the Lady Wildcats. Coach Self-Morgan is sure of making a stamp on the year by defeating a team in a big playoff game especially from a team she has a second chance to defeat on their playoff run. The Pantherettes will play Plano Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Colleyville Heritage High School.