The Lady Panthers of Portal had to fight all the way to the end Friday night against a tough Treutlen Vikings team.
    In the end, clutch free throws from Chandalier Morgan and a breakout performance from senior Breyonna Raymond helped the Panthers hold off the Vikings for a 57-53 win.
    Morgan finished the game with 19 points and Raymond had 31 points. However, it was Treutlen’s Le’Andrea Gillis that gave the Portal defense all it could handle. She finished with a game-high 34 points in a losing effort.
    “With a girl like that, she’s just a sophomore and she’s left handed. She’s averaging 25 points a game so we tried to stop her with a box-and-one,” Portal head coach Cliff Hubbard said when asked about slowing down Gillis. “In the second half she really started to hit shots. We were in her face but she has such a quick trigger.”
    Gillis’ quick trigger helped the Lady Vikings climb back into the ball game after falling behind by as many as 12 points.
    The Lady Panthers ended the second quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 29-18 halftime lead. Morgan, who missed her first four three-point shots started to find the range in the second half.
    Treutlen tied the game 45-45 with just five minutes left to play, but on the next possession Raymond nailed a three-point shot to keep the Lady Vikings at bay.
    “We practice drills when we try to finish games. I put three minutes on the clock and we run defensive drills to see who wants to finish the game and who wants to be on the court. Tonight, we were able to have a lead, maintain a lead and we kept fighting and hit our free throws,” Hubbard said.
    Portal (3-5, 1-1 Region 3-A) will have an extended break from action before they play in the Portal Christmas tournament on Dec. 28.
    With key starters out of the game, the Portal boys didn’t have quite enough firepower to match up against a deep Treutlen team Friday night.
    The game started with both teams trading leads, but Treutlen surged forward towards the end of the second quarter to cruise to a 73-57 win.
    Darius Huff, in the absence of starting guard Malik Williams, had a breakout game for the Panthers scoring a team-high 26 points whiled notching 13 rebounds and five assists. Senior Zac White scored nine points for the Panthers while Ronald Williams finished the game with seven points.
    “In the first half, we played the pace we wanted to play. We beat the press and we made them play half-court defense. They are the kind of team that wants to push the tempo and press,” Portal head coach Jeff Brannen said after his team’s sixth loss of the season. “Before you know it they’re making a big run on you. The guys did a good job in the first half and I thought we improved tonight against a good team.”
    Portal (2-6, 1-1 Region 3-A) ended the first quarter holding on to a slim 14-12 lead. In the second quarter, Treutlen pushed ahead thanks to a 12-4 run to end the quarter.
    The Panthers began to turn the ball over in the third, something Coach Brannen said his team couldn’t do against a quality opponent like Treutlen (5-0).
    Portal’s next game will be against Long County Dec. 29 during the Portal Holiday Classic.