The Panthers may be on their way to a similar run this winter.

Kiera Loberg had 22 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists as Panama won its fourth straight game, 43-24 over Westfield in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 action Thursday evening.

With the victory, the Panthers improved to 9-6 overall and 7-5 in the league with a pair of Division 2 games and two nonleague games remaining in the regular season. Panama is currently the No. 3 seed in Class D.

“It’s nice to win at the beginning of the year, but the end of the year is when it actually matters,” Panama head coach Nicole Peterson said. ” … They’ve really come together as a team and started to be unselfish.”

Panama’s Kaitlyn Horton attempts a shot while being defended by Westfield’s Reagan Weingart during Thursday’s CCAA Division 2 game. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

The Wolverines, who beat Panama 46-32 on their home court earlier this season, fell to 9-7 overall and 6-5 in the league with three Division 2 games and a nonleague game remaining. Westfield is currently the No. 9 seed in Class C.

“It was bad shooting. We were getting point-blank shots, open looks … and we missed layups. It comes down to fundamentals. It’s rebounding, taking care of the ball and making layups,” Westfield head coach Chris Dole said. ” … Sometimes this team goes into lulls when they don’t focus close to the basket.”

The Wolverines made three of their first five shots, including a pair of Mackenzie Schumaker 3-pointers, Thursday, but Loberg scored the final 7 points of the first quarter as the Panthers led 17-8 after eight minutes.

“She came up early on last year, but she’s really stepped into her role this year of being our point guard,” Peterson said of Loberg. “She is the one responsible for feeding the ball in and finding the open girls. When she starts passing, that’s when she also gets open the most.”

Olivia Wolfe and Schumaker each made a 3-pointer during the second quarter, but a Loberg 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Jessica Lyon sent Panama into halftime with a 28-15 lead.

From there, Westfield scored just 9 second-half points on 2-for-21 shooting while turning the ball over 11 times in the final two quarters.

“We have to match their 43 points,” Dole said. “If you aren’t putting in the layups, the end result is what it is.”

The Panthers, on the other hand, won the third quarter 10-5, which included Cassie Lyon’s lone 3-pointer of the night.

“Cassie is our captain. She’s been huge this year. We call her Old Reliable out there. You can always count on her,” Peterson said. ” … She is every where on the court, all the time.”

Despite going just 2 of 15 from the floor in the fourth quarter, Panama won easily as it did not turn the ball over and held the Wolverines to just 4 points.

“Having help-side, having each other’s backs, that’s what we’ve really been emphasizing,” Peterson said. “It really shuts teams down when it’s not just one on one.”

Westfield will now have back-to-back games against neighboring Chautauqua Lake on Friday and next Wednesday, while Panama will head to Clymer on Monday.

NOTES: Cassie Lyon had 9 points and seven rebounds; Jessica Lyon had 7 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and four assists; and Kaitlyn Horton had eight rebounds and four steals for Panama, which shot 16 of 55 from the field, including 3 of 20 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 10 times. … Schumaker had 12 points, Reagan Weingart had nine rebounds and Olivie Wolfe had three steals for Westfield, which shot 7 of 40 from the field, including 4 of 18 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 21 times.

WESTFIELD (24)

SWolfe 0 1 1, Hotchkiss 1 0 2, Douglas 0 2 2, Burgess 0 0 0, Corbett 0 0 0, Weingart 1 0 2, OWolfe 1 2 5, Ottey 0 0 0, Schumaker 4 1 12. Totals 7 6 24.

PANAMA (43)

Warner 0 0 0, CLyon 3 2 9, Loberg 10 0 22, JLyon 1 5 7, Hummel 0 0 0, Kolstee 0 0 0, Horton 2 1 5, Straight 0 0 0, Raynor 0 0 0, Olson 0 0 0. Totals 16 8 43.

3-point goals–OWolfe, Schumaker 3, CLyon, Loberg 2.

Westfield 8 7 5 4 — 24

Panama 17 11 10 5 — 43