The Putnam County girls basketball team lost its first 18 games of the season under first-year coach Becca Pyszka.

The Panthers broke through on Tuesday, ending the streak and giving Pyszka her first career win with a 48-29 victory over Newark.

“It was a good, solid win for the girls,” Pyszka said. “The first six minutes of the game were slow and unsteady, but they settled in at the end of the first quarter and kept that pace the rest of the game.

“We’ve been talking about consistency over four quarters. We’ve had successful quarters here and there throughout the season, but haven’t been able to string them together. So I was proud that we stayed steady through the Newark game.”

Pyszka hopes the Panthers can build off the win.

“I hope the girls take (that) it was a confidence boost for the rest of the season,” Pyszka said. “We are trying to build that up and are making a point of believing in themselves, their teammates and the program.”

APPROACHING MILESTONES

Several area players are approaching scoring milestones.

Princeton senior Keighley Davis and Fieldcrest senior Macy Gochanour are chasing the top spots on their program’s career scoring lists.

Davis has 1,414 career points entering Thursday’s game and needs 92 to break the record of 1,506 held by Tiah Tomagnoli.

Gochanour, who leads the area in scoring at 19 points per game, was 66 points shy of the Fieldcrest record held by Haley Ruestman (1,765) before Thursday’s game.

Davis’ teammate, Camryn Driscoll, is fourth in program history with 1,203 points. She’s missed the last two games.

Bureau Valley junior Libby Endress is closing in on 1,000 career points as she has 866. Endress is averaging 13 points per game.

SHOOTING FOR A SEAT

Against Indian Creek on Jan. 6, Mendota sophomore Karson Doyle’s first shot was a “bad air ball” from 3-point range.

With extra motivation, Doyle shook off the tough start and caught fire from long range, knocking down five straight 3s over the next eight minutes.

She poured in 25 points in the first half and finished the night with a career-high 36, which ranks sixth in program history for single-game scoring.

“She made a deal with (assistant coach Matt) Gehm,” Mendota coach John Hansen said. “She was jokingly complaining about the seating arrangement in his class to start the new semester. If she scored 20 that night, he’d let her pick her assigned seat in his class. He must have a seat with a great view of the cornfield or something that she obviously really wanted.”

Doyle did more than score that night. She also grabbed 14 rebounds and swiped seven steals.

“After (her air ball) she was unconscious from 3 for the next eight minutes,” Hansen said. “That led to them closing out hard and her getting some room to attack with some nice moves to finish at the rim. Mix in 14 rebounds that led to some putbacks, and she had seven steals that she did a great job pushing into buckets.

“We all definitely fed off her energy that night.”

PLAYING WITH CONFIDENCE

Princeton had the best start in program history this season as the Tigresses won their first 14 games and sit at 15-1.

“Each girl on the team has really bought into our style of play and their role in it,” Princeton coach Tiffany Gonigam said. “We preach all the time to move the ball until we get the best shot for our team, and the girls do that game in and game out. The girls are playing with a ton of confidence that comes from the reps they’ve built in practice and is reinforced by the wins they see at the games. Of course, a lot of other things have to go your way also.”

The Tigresses are looking to continue that success and ultimately win the program’s first regional title since 2007.

“To keep heading in a positive direction, we need to keep preparing like we have all year,” Gonigam said. “These girls have worked really hard, not just this season, but in the offseason, and they can’t lose sight of what got them here. It’s all the practice, the reps on their own. We just have to keep working hard. We must continue to play as a team and play for each other.”

SUPER SOPHOMORES

Bureau Valley went 13-20 last season, but this winter the Storm have already matched last year’s win total as they sit at 13-7.

Sophomores Brynley Doty and Brooke Helms have given the Storm a boost this season.

Doty has doubled her scoring output to 10.4 points per game and Helms is on pace to break the school record for 3-pointers made in a season and ranks second in the area in assists at 3.6 per game.

“We’ve taken a step forward this year in large part due to our sophomore class,” BV coach Jonathon Henegar said.

RELYING ON DEFENSE

Hall has been up and down offensively this season. The Red Devils have three games in which they’ve scored 55 points or more, including a high of 61 points, but they also have been held in the 20s in five games. Hall is averaging 39.1 points per game.

However, the Red Devils’ defense has kept them in games as they allow 38.1 per game.

“Our team defense has been pretty solid thankfully because our offense has been very inconsistent,” Hall coach TJ Orlandi said. “Our defense has been able to keep us in most games even with our struggles putting the ball in the hoop consistently. If you take our two worst losses to IVC early in the year and Newman, we’re giving up 33.9 per game. It’s been one of the better starts to the year we’ve had defensively since I’ve been coaching.”