This one’s for all the marbles, so we’re going to lace your sneakers up on what to expect from the Saints’ opponent in the Division 5 state title game.  The Pinewood Panthers are 26-6, and this is the game that was supposed to happen—the Saints are the no. 1 seed from the South, the Panthers the no. 1 seed from the North.  Pinewood was the 55-47 runner-up in last year’s Division 5 game, falling to Bell-Jeff.  The Panthers return much of that team, so they’re used to this stage.

Their best player is Hailie Eackles (#23), who leads the team in points and rebounds, at 16 points and 9 boards per-game.  The 5-8 junior is backed by a triplet of senior captains who all played on last year’s runner-up team.  Rachel Marty (#20), Emily Liang (#22), and Lauren Taniguchi (#25) anchor the team and bring a level of experience the Saints haven’t really faced before.

The Saints’ big advantage should be inside—the Panthers have just one girl taller than Eackles’ 5-8, while St. Anthony has the post players in Jourdan and Kendall Cooper, and Natalie Williams, to do a lot of work inside if they want to.  If they can do so successfully, and stay out of foul trouble, these Saints could end up bringing home the school’s second state championship—come back to LBPOSTsports.com on Saturday at 9:30am for live updates from the game!