They say all things come in threes, and perhaps nobody is more aware of that than Lina Panos.
The senior forward is one of Lincoln-Way Central’s Big Three, along with senior guards Gracen Gehrke and Gianna Amadio. They united to win their third straight conference championship.
And then Friday night, the Knights won their third consecutive regional title.
“Three’s our lucky number,” Panos said with a wide smile afterward. “At the beginning of the season, we called it the power of three. We just keep running with that number three.
“We’ve got nine girls on our team, so divided by three … drills with three people.”
How about another key three? Lincoln-Way Central’s 36-33 victory over Stagg in the Class 4A Andrew Regional championship game was the Knights’ third this season over the pesky Chargers.
Junior forward Brooke Baechtold led Lincoln-Way Central (19-11) with nine points, including three 3-pointers in the second half. Gehrke and sophomore guard Brooke Katzmann each had seven.
Senior guard Lizzy Ellsworth scored 12 points and made three 3-pointers for Stagg (19-13). Junior forward Shannon Earley and senior guard Ameli Sanchez added six points apiece.
The 6-foot Panos picked up four points and six rebounds for the Knights, who will play at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Joliet West Sectional semifinals against Homewood-Flossmoor (21-7).
But there was a whole lot more to her game Friday night than statistics.
“She is just the glue that holds us together,” Lincoln-Way coach Dave Campanile said. “She was one of those seniors that really played a major role in her sophomore year on that regional.
“All season she’s kept us together and persevered and said, ‘Hey, we’re good.’ She’s that voice of reason.”
Panos also battled all night down low with Earley while simultaneously working to prevent ultra-speedy players like Sanchez and senior guard Nicole Hobart from driving the lane or baseline.
Then, Panos’ final point of the night, the second of two free throws with only 5.6 seconds remaining, gave the Knights — you guessed it — a three-point advantage they wouldn’t relinquish.
Probably no bigger free throw in her high school career, according to teammates, coaches and parents who milled about after the game in a festive atmosphere.
It’s also what you expect from a senior with the leadership skills she has honed over the past couple of years with Amadio and Gehrke. And it’s had a big impact on players like Baechtold.
“She’s been a huge leader to our team,” Baechtold said of Panos. “She’s our No. 1 leader, No. 1 contributor, No. 1 talker on the team. She’s always encouraging people when all of us are down.”
Katzmann, meanwhile, confirmed she has learned a lot this season from Panos. Such as?
“Just never giving up, honestly,” Katzmann said. “She’s always pushing, and if she makes a mistake, she continues to ignore it and keep moving.”
Panos, who’s staring at the end of her high school career, would love not three but four more games, which would mean a trip to the state finals at CEFCU Arena in Normal.
No matter when things end, however, she has decided she’s not going to play in college, although she wants to participate in intramurals or club. Part of the reason was an ACL tear in the sectional semifinal as a sophomore knocked out part of her junior season and impacted recruiting.
Deciding not to play was a tough decision, especially since she started basketball in kindergarten.
“It was extremely hard,” she said. “I want to be a physician assistant, so I know that will be a hard workload. But not playing with my best friends anymore, it’s going to be a hard transition.”
Gregg Voss is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
