(Geronimo) — Jumping out to a 10-0 lead, the Navarro Runnin’ Lady Panthers never looked back and lead wire to wire in a 57-51 non-district victory over the New Braunfels Unicorns in a Friday daytime tilt at Navarro High School.
The UIL Class 4A Lady Panthers took down the Class 6A Unicorns thanks to a trio of seniors who scored in double figures. Tatum Harborth lead the triumvirate with 19 points while Ryanne Hepp dropped in 12 and Karlee Koening contributed 11 points.
After Navarro scored the first 10 points of the game, New Braunfels responded with an 8-0 run of their own to cut the lead to two but the Lady Panthers pushed the lead back up to six at 16-10 as the first quarter ended thanks in part to a three pointer by Harboth just before the horn sounded.
Navarro extended their lead by a point to 31-24 in the next eight minutes as the teams headed into the locker room at the half. Harborth had 10 points at the break to pace the Lady Panthers.
After a low scoring 3rd quarter that saw each team only score 10 points, the Lady Panthers were able to build a double digit lead early in the 4th quarter. The Unicorns would close within five at one point, but Navarro was able to hit their foul shots and keep New Braunfels at bay.
Koening had five points in the 4th quarter including three key makes from the charity stripe to keep the Lady Panthers ahead on the scoreboard down the stretch. Freshman Cam Shields also made three foul shots in the final stanza for Navarro.
The Lady Panthers improved to 21-4 overall on the season while the Unicorns fell to 12-11. Navarro will get back to District 27-4A play on Tuesday when they go to Bandera to battle the Lady Bulldogs. The game tips off at 6:15 p.m.