By Taylor Penn

Staff Writer

The Lady Panthers hosted the Commerce Lady Tigers on Friday, Jan. 20. The Lady Tigers, however, were too much for Van Alstyne as the home team fell in a 13-point loss.

Commerce 40, Van Alstyne 27

The Van Alstyne offense, which has been much improved as of late, struggled to get anything going against Commerce on Friday.

The Lady Panthers could not get their shots to fall. And when they did mistakes cost them as they had two made three-pointers negated by traveling calls.

It was a rough go of it for Van Alstyne. Sierra Motley got in foul trouble early, picking up three fouls in the first half, so Coach Tim Bryant had to limit her minutes to ensure that she would last the duration of the game. Motley was still able to finish with six points and a team-high 11 rebounds. In addition, the Lady Panthers were once again without the services of Sam Hutchison, who is still out with complications due to illness. Good news for Lady Panther fans, however, is that Hutchison said she could possibly be back in the lineup in time for the Jan. 27 game against Anna. It was a slow start for the Lady Panthers. Van Alstyne got behind early on and was never able to catch up, trailing 18-10 at halftime. The Lady Panthers finally got it together in the fourth quarter and began to make up ground, but it proved to be too little too late as Commerce held on for the road win. Monique White, who recently returned from an ankle injury that caused her to miss a few games, led Van Alstyne in scoring with nine points on the night and had four rebounds and two steals. Hunter Offill also chipped in with six points, both off of three-pointers.

Van Alstyne will travel to Anna on Friday evening to take on the Lady Coyotes. Anna will be looking for a shot at redemption as it suffered a loss to the Lady Panthers earlier in the season. The game is scheduled to start at 5:45 p.m.