Blairsville, Georgia- The Union County Panthers host the Banks County Leopards in a region matchup. The Leopards won the last game between these two teams. The Panthers are still looking for their first win. The Panthers have Head Coach Corey Garrett back after he missed the past 2 games due to an ejection a previous game. The Panthers needed to find an offensive rhythm as they haven’t had one since their game against Lumpkin County. Versus a talented team like Banks County, you need to score every chance you get and not having a rhythm offensively, lowers the chance for success.

First Quarter

To begin the game, the Panthers and the Leopards were unable to score on their first possessions. The Leopards went up 5-0 quickly as Senior Garrett Presley made a 3 and Senior Clay Gonsell made a midrange jumper. The Panthers got on the board as Junior Landon Kight made a turn around jumper. Presley made his shot and the following free throw to put the Leopards up 8-2. After a Panther turnover, Senior Carter Stroud found Noah Oar on a no look pass to extend their lead to 10-2. Kight responded with a nice shot under the basket to cut the deficit to 6. Both offenses had a cold spell as both teams were playing very good defense. Gonsell hit a 3 to get the scoring started for the Leopards as they would close the quarter on a 8-0 run. The Panthers trailed 18-4 to end the first quarter.

Second Quarter

The Panthers needed to find a rhythm offensively as they struggled to get going in the first quarter. Junior Caleb John got the Panthers on the board to get the Panthers offense going and cut the deficit to 12. Junior Lake Hughes hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 9, as the Panthers were finding some rhythm offensively. The Leopards responded with a 3 on offense as that was their first points of the quarter. Oar made a fast break layup as the Leopards went up 14, forcing the Panthers to call timeout. After the timeout, the Leopards scored 4 quick points. Junior Daniel Snow stopped the quick scoring run as he scored on a put back layup. The Leopards were finding their rhythm on offense as they led 29-15 to end the second quarter.

Third Quarter

To start the third quarter, Presley got the Leopards on the board immediately as he scored a 3. Hughes responded and made a mid range floater after getting the rebound to get the Panthers on the board. Junior Hayden Payne scored to cut the deficit to 15. The Leopards responded after a nice pass from Gonsell to Oar. After Presley hit a 3 to extend the lead to 20, the Panthers had to call timeout to try and slow the momentum. Hughes hit a 3 out of the timeout but the Panthers just couldn’t get enough stops on defense to cut into the 18 point Leopard lead. Hughes hit another 3 pointer but Ivey responded with one as well for the Leopards. The Panthers would trail 54-30 to end the third quarter.

Fourth Quarter

The Panthers would outscore the Leopards the fourth quarter, scoring 15 points but it wasn’t enough to make a comeback as the Leopards were on fire offensively for most of the game. The Panthers fall to the Leopards 64-45 and fall to 0-9 on the season. The Panthers will host Elbert County on Friday for their last home game of the season.