When the Knoxville Girls Basketball Squad restarts the season on Tuesday at Centerville, the Panthers will take a 3-4 record and a 1-2 mark in the South Central Conference. The Panthers have hung their hat on defensive effort and while the offense is coming around. Coach Matt Ritchhart says the defense and the buy in with all of the girls have been the one thing he is most happy about.

Ritchhart: “The one thing I asked the girls to do is give me effort, and the byu-in is the one thing I’m most proud of, and a Pella parent pulled me aside and said your girls play really hard and take charges like Anna Anderson did, and i said I like the effort, no if we can get better execution so we can beat good teams like Pella.”

During the break, Ritchhart has been emphasizing the mental part of the game almost as much as the physical part. He says the girls need to watch videos of their upcoming opponents online and he says since nearly every team now has a livestream on YouTube, he says it is a great tool to have. Knoxville will get its season back underway on Tuesday at Centerville, a game that can be heard live on 95.3 KNIA.