Panthers Hope to Rebound with Packed Schedule; Alpine Ski Team Races Slalom at Pico
February 08, 2022
Featured photo by TA parent Kelly Smith.
With a full schedule ahead, the Panthers varsity basketballs teams hope to rebound from a stretch of losses. The girls returned to the court on Jan. 25 after a three-week hiatus due to Covid with a tough game v. Windsor’s Yellowjackets, losing 62-41. Over the next two weeks, the girls scooped up a win v. Randolph, before falling to Lyndon (67-42) and Williamstown (55-51) in subsequent Saturday games.
Despite the loss at Williamstown, the girls played well and kept the game tight. From the Valley News: “The Panthers answered a 10-0 home-team run in the fourth quarter with a run of their own to get within three, 53-50, with under a minute to go but could not quite pull off the comeback.” Coach Eric Ward shared, “I was extremely proud of my girls tonight,” and noted the Panther defeats have been against teams with just a loss or two. “I think we will be ready when we hit the postseason.” The Panthers lost to Spaulding 58-35 at home last night and take on Montpelier tonight at 7:00 p.m.
On the boys side, the Panthers have been working hard to turn around a 2-10 season record. It’s been a streak of losses in the last two weeks, but these Panthers are leaving it all on the court. The team lost a back and forth game 41-46 to Randolph and kept pace with People’s Academy most of the game before falling 42-53. The Panthers play Lake Region on Wednesday and U-32 on Friday.
In Alpine Skiing, the TA team headed to Pico for its last two races. For last week’s race, Coach Amy Huyffer shared the roundup: “The conditions were great for free skiing, but tricky in the course as the soft snow outside of the gates was unforgiving to anyone who got wide with any speed … Both the boys and girls finished in fourth place in the team standings, the boys out of seven teams and the girls out of six. The top four finishers were Maya Dixon, Addy Holzer, Charlotte Reimanis and Alicja Perdrizet for the girls and Ben Acker, Oliver Yukica, Hardy Payson and Uly Junker-Boyce for the boys.
On Monday, the team headed to Pico again for a Giant Slalom event. Bianca Pulaski, Ella Harvey, Charlotte Reimanis and Alicja Perdrizet earned the top four finishes for the girls; Ben Acker, Harley Ransom, Tucker Gaffney and Isaac Yukica took the top four for the boys. Both teams finished 5th out of 6 teams. TA’s alpine skiers have one more regular season race this week at Suicide 6 followed by the Southern League Districts at Bromley on February 17th.
The view from the course last week. 
Team meeting on the hill.