The Penrith Basketball Association hosted the Buena Vista University Beavers women's team on Friday night at the Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre, winning a close-fought game 84-78 in overtime.
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Pre-game publicity advised the Penrith Association would be fielding a mixture of Under 18 and Youth League players for the clash but the Americans quickly discovered the Panthers had a much stronger line-up waiting in ambush.
Waratah Championship League (WCL) players made up the bulk of the home team's line-up, led by Australian U19 representative Tahlia Tupaea, Danielle Schwarzer, Rhiannon Pope, Dominika Offner (Springwood) and Emily Potts. 2015 WCL rookies Natalia Beaumont (Emu Heights) and Binta Salawu provided even more depth, whilst the balance of the team - Teiarna Offner (Springwood) and Lara Camenzuli - are both members of the Panthers U18 Women's team.
The Beavers are a NCAA division three team and fielded 12 players on the night, in front of Penrith's biggest crowd of the year. Penrith started strongly, with Beaumont leading the home team out to a 23-15 lead in the first term and 37-29 at half-time.
The Panthers edged ahead even further to lead 58-46 at the end of the third term, before the visitors finished full of running to tie the game 71-71 at full-time. Penrith would again dominate in extra time, cruising to a six-point win. Potts led the Panthers with 17 points, ahead of Tupaea 16, Beaumont 13, Dominika Offner 11 and Salawu 11 points and 9 boards.
Five players finished in double figures for the visitors, led by Jasmyn Flynn-Graves with 17 points and 9 boards.
