Photo by Brennen Rupp TMB’s Sidney Karbo puts up a shot during their game against Martin County West on Friday. The Panthers defeated the Mavericks 65-49.

TRACY – The 10th-ranked Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers picked up their 11th straight win Friday evening with a 65-49 victory over Martin County West. The Panthers build a double-digit lead early and maintained a comfortable lead over the Mavericks for the remainder of the game to pick up their 12th win of the season.

“I thought the girls did a nice job of running on the break,” TMB coach Derek Ashbaugh said. “We really pushed in transition and were able to get some easy looks off of defensive rebounds. We were able to get on the break a little bit. The girls did a nice job of that to start the game.”

Evelyn Dolan scored the first four points for the Panthers. Kaylee Kirk then converted on a 3-point play to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead. A few moments later Sydney Lanoue converted on a 3-point play to put TMB up 10-0.

With the Panthers holding an 11-0 lead the Mavericks got on the board to make it an 11-2 ballgame. Kirk made back to back baskets to give the Panthers a 21-8 lead.

Lanoue converted her second 3-point play of the first half to put the Panthers up 24-8. Following Lanoue’s 3-point play the Mavericks went on a 8-0 run to trim TMB’s lead to 24-16.

A Kirk basket put a stop to MCW’s 8-0 run and put the Panthers back up by double digits. A Lanoue 3-pointer pushed TMB’s lead to 29-16.

At the half the Panthers led the Mavericks 34-20. Kirk led the Panthers at halftime with 10 points.

Dolan got the Panthers rolling early in the second half by scoring the first five points of the second half to put TMB up 39-20. A Sidney Karbo 3-pointer gave TMB a 43-27 lead. The Mavericks responded by going on a 7-0 run to make it a 43-34 game.

“They are a very good defensive team,” Ashbaugh said. “They hustled back and made it tough for us to run in the open floor. We didn’t get quite as many turnovers in the halfcourt. They did a nice job in their zone. They changed looks up a lot and I think our girls got confused from time to time. They are a good defensive team. I’m pretty happy that we were able to score 60 plus points on them.”

A Kirk bucket put a stop to MCW’s run and put the Panthers back up by double digits. With the Panthers holding a 48-39 lead Dolan scored eight straight points to give TMB a comfortable 56-43 lead.

The Mavericks came into the game averaging 59 points per game. Ashbaugh said he was pleased with his team’s performance on the defensive end of the court.

“We did well,” he said. “In the first half we were able to get some turnovers. In the second half we weren’t able to get as many steals, but I thought we played really good position defense. We didn’t give up easy looks. We only gave them one shot for most of the night.”

Dolan finished the game with 27 points and nine rebounds. Ashbaugh said Dolan did a nice job of running the floor and added that her teammates did a nice job of rewarding her effort.

“Evy did what Evy does,” Ashbaugh said. “She ran the floor incredibly well. In the halfcourt they started to take away certain things and that left her open and she took advantage of that.”

Kirk finished the game with 15 points, six assists, six rebounds and six steals. Lanoue finished with 13 points and seven steals.

With the win the Panthers improved to 12-1 overall. They’ll be back in action on Tuesday against Renville County West.