By Kyle McCaskey

It goes down as a loss, but while the Derby girls’ basketball team dropped a 65-53 decision at Maize this past Friday, it showed the continued development of the Panthers.

“It just goes to show you we can hang with some of these really good teams if we do what we do best and take care of the ball,” said Jessica Fuller, Derby head coach. “We just have to understand what our strengths are. I was happy with the way we played.”

Maize, ranked No. 3 in the state, slowly inched ahead throughout the first half. A buzzer beater by Derby’s Hannah Jimenez brought the game to a 32-20 margin at halftime.

The Eagles expanded their lead to as much as 22 in the third quarter, but Derby kept its intensity. The Panther battled to bring the game within 12 at the final buzzer.

Derby committed a troubling 31 turnovers, but the Panthers made Maize work on offense. The typically sure-handed Eagles gave up 16 turnovers of their own.

“We’re going to make mistakes, but if we can force them to make quite a few, too – we like to run the floor, also,” Fuller said. “We knew they were going to try to speed us up, but we like playing a quick game, too, because I think we’re pretty good in transition.”

Keiryn Swenson scored 19 points to lead Maize. Derby found a positive note with a balanced offensive attack. Alyxis Bowens and Madi Greenwood each contributed 11 points, while Hannah Jimenez and Michaela Liebst added nine a piece, as well.

Derby received 13 points of production off the bench.

“We’re distributing some of the points a little bit. Plus, our girls on the bench are playing well right now,” Fuller said. “It seems like we have a lot of consistency with substitutions. We’re starting to find a rotation that’s working.”

The encouraging effort against Maize made up for a bizarre showing in Newton on Feb. 7. 

Newton blasted the Panthers early, taking a 17-4 lead after one quarter and a 32-9 advantage into halftime. After a quick three stretched Newton’s lead to 26 to start the third, Derby responded. 

The Panthers pumped out the next 17 points. After three quarters, the deficit was trimmed to 38-28. 

The offensive attack went back to sleep in the fourth, however, as Newton raced to a 59-35 victory.

Abbie Lehman led Newton with 16 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. Bowens contributed a similar stat line for Derby, giving 16, 12 and two. 

Derby (3-14, 1-8) was mired in a 10-game losing streak as of Monday, but a recent string of sharper performances could mean a fruitful ending to the regular season.

“We’re trying to take it one game at a time and trying to play consistent,” Fuller said. 

Hutchinson will visit the Panthers on Friday for a 6 p.m. tipoff.