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The Panthers had Thursday’s contest with Gardner-Edgerton circled for months, and in return, they received an early Christmas present.

Thanks to four late free throws from senior Taylor Smith, Paola outlasted Gardner in overtime for a 55-50 victory in Paola. The Panthers, now 5-0 on the season, gave the Blazers their first loss of the season and are right where they want to be.

“It obviously has implications with league and one of our goals is winning the league title and it will be tough with all the great teams,” Paola coach Stuart Ross said. “As a coach, this gives us a lot of momentum going into Christmas and that is great. It helps us for seeding for the Burlington tournament, which is a nasty, nasty tournament and the better seed you have, the better chance you have to win.

“More than anything though, we just beat Gardner. People don’t understand the rivalry that has existed for decades. It wouldn’t have mattered for our girls if we were both 0-4 right now. A lot of the players circled this game early.”

The Panthers didn’t get off to the start it wanted and the Blazers took advantage. Gardner jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and Paola found itself in a deep hole early.

Four different Blazer players connected on 3-pointers in the opening quarter and Ross quickly had to get out of his man-to-man defense and switch to zone.

It certainly helped.

Paola quickly trimmed the Gardner lead and eventually took a 40-37 lead into the fourth quarter.

“The first quarter we just came out flat and they were ready to go,” Ross said. “We were running man defense, and that is what any good team wants to do, but we obviously knew we would have to run our zone against them eventually. That has also been good for us against them. I didn’t want to use it that early, but they just shot so well that we had to.”

Gardner struggled with the Paola zone and a big reason was senior Taelor Karr. The Kansas State signee played on top of the zone and had a field day with eight steals after recording 10 steals the game before.

“That is just all coaching,” Ross joked. “The coaching move is to put her in that position. She is just an athlete and she makes plays. You are talking about a great team that, every time she would make steal, goes ‘What the heck was that?’ Gardner has played some tough competition and, for us to make this statement, shows us to where we need to be right now.”

The fourth quarter went back-and-forth and both teams had their fair chances to win it in regulation, but neither team could hit a shot. In the overtime, senior Megan Hayes gave the Panthers the lead with a basket with 1 minute and 50 seconds left.

With under a minute left, Smith came through in the clutch with four straight made free throws to give her a game-high 14 points. Senior Rachel Hanf finished with 13 points and Karr added 11 in the win.

“Taylor is all-around a great shooter,” Ross said. “She was ready and she was just confident. Those free throws were just huge for us. Last year she had growing pains, and this year she is ready. There is no doubt about it. That is why she is a starter and she proved it.”

The Panthers get a break over the holidays and return to action on Jan. 6 when they host Girard.

Paola 10 10 20 9 6– 55

Gardner 18 9 10 12 1– 50

Paola (5-0): Taylor Smith 3 7-8 14, Rachel Hanf 3 6-8 13, Taelor Karr 3 5-6 11, Ashlee Johnson 3 2-4 8, Megan Hayes 3 1-2 7, Allison Wood 0 2-2 2. Totals: 15 23-30 55. 3-point field goals: 2, (Smith, Hanf).

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