Panthers double header defeats in NBL1 East

THE Penrith Panthers have lost all four legs of a 2-day doubleheader weekend at the Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre (PVRSC), Cambridge Park, in Round 16 of the 2023 NBL1 East Basketball competition.

It was a remarkable two days for the Penrith women, who put in a Jeckyl and Hyde performance over the two days against the Newcastle Falcons and Maitland Mustangs, which are both headed for this year’s playoff series.

The Panthers struggled to find the bottom of the net through two miserable quarters against the Mustangs, trailing 44-8 at half time in what was surely their worst shooting performance of the year. Head coach Bernie Slattery spoke some magic words during the long break and the Panthers suddenly came to life, winning the third term 14-13 and the fourth quarter 22-19 to take the honours for the second half, but ultimately falling 74-44.

Fans at Sunday’s game were treated to a much harder-fought contest, with the Panthers leading 33-32 at half time, before falling away 9-16 in the third term to gift the Mustangs a game- winning margin. Both sides struggled to trouble the scorer in a low-scoring final quarter, with Maitland holding on to win 54-48.

Chloe Williams was the leading scorer for the weekend with a 2-game total of 28 points, with Meg Jefferson grabbing 13 points against Newcastle and Kate Pozoglou grabbing 13 boards against the Mustangs.

Penrith were never in the hunt in Saturday’s men’s game against the Falcons, trailing 18-29, 38-51 and 53-77 at the first three breaks in play, before eventually falling 9669. Jaedyn Fetui-Fa’amoe led the Panthers with 15 points, ahead of Tomas Ramos 12 and Caleb Fetui-

Sunday’s game was a much tighter contest, as Penrith led 28-27 in the first term, trailed 45-52 at half time and 73-77 at the end of the third quarter. Penrith tried hard to bridge the gap in the final term but the Mustangs could not be reined in, winning 101-95.

Tomas Ramos led the Panthers with 22 points, 5 boards, 5 assists; ahead of Caleb Fetui-Fa’amoe 19 points, 13 boards; Brodie Schwarzer 17 points and Jaedyn Fetui-Fa’amoe 15.

The Panthers are at home again on Saturday against the Northern Suburbs Bears, with the women’s game at 5.30pm and the men’s at 7.30pm.