Panorama dominated the start and was just good enough at the end to put itself in the Class 2A championship game.
The second-seeded Panthers turned back Westwood after the Rebels had chopped away at most of an eight-point lead and held on for a 39-36 semifinal victory, Mia Waddle’s layup off an inbounds play with 16 seconds left providing the final margin.
Panorama improved to 25-1 and will play top-seeded Dike-New Hartford for the title at 4:45 p.m. Saturday. It will be their second meeting at state in three years. Dike-New Hartford, seeking its fourth straight championship, beat the Panthers 67-23 in the 2022 semifinals.
Waddle and Tyme Boettcher led Panorama with 12 points each, with Boettcher draining four 3-pointers and grabbing 10 rebounds. State track champion Jaidyn Sellers also pulled down 10 rebounds while tacking on nine points and three assists.
Brennna Johnson had 11 points, six rebounds and four steals for Westwood, which lost for the first time in 23 games. Addy Johnson added 10 points and Ashlyn Davis scored six to go with 10 rebounds.
Panorama bolted to a 7-0 lead while Westwood was turning it over on six straight possessions. Once the Rebels settled down, they ran off eight straight points to end the first quarter and continued the run when Johnson opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer for a 13-9 lead.
The Panthers came right back with six straight points to pull back in front before Westwood took an 18-16 lead into halftime. Panorama knocked down three 3-pointers in the third quarter to get back in front and went up 35-27 on Boettcher’s 3 with 7:28 left.
Back came the Rebels, who twice cut the lead to a single point, the last time at 37-36 when Brenna Johnson stole the ball at midcourt and took it in for a layup with 53 seconds to play.
Inbounding the ball from the sideline in front of the Panorama bench after a timeout, Boettcher sent the ball to Waddle near the basket and she banked in the layup to make it 39-36. Working for a final shot, the Rebels got a timeout with eight-tenths of a second left. The Panthers then knocked the inbounds pass away to prevent a shot and Panorama was in the finals for the first time.
Westwood reached the state tournament for the second time and picked up its first state tourney victory with its quarterfinal win over Central Lyon, last year’s 2A runner-up.