Manchester captured a key PAC-7 road win in Brewster, Wednesday night to move within two games of clinching its sixth consecutive conference championship.
The Lady Panthers, winners of 13 straight, downed a dangerous Fairless squad 56-49, which has been playing some of its best basketball of the season since the calendar year turned over.
Manchester (16-1, 12-1) trailed by two points (45-43) entering the final eight minutes of action, but went on a 10-0 run to open the fourth quarter, and was able to foil the Falcons upset bid..
Senior Jackie Bonnett was instrumental in the run as she had a traditional three-point play, followed by one free throw, which put the Panthers ahead for good at 47-45. The black and red would hold Fairless scoreless until the 3:22 mark of the finale.
Bonnett was one of three players to score in double-figures for Manchester with 10 points. She also had six rebounds.
Brooke Tabaka finished with 12 points, Morgan Vanscoy had 11 points, and five assists, and Michelle Noble contributed seven rebounds, and six steals.
"We were fortunate to get the win," said Head Coach Tucker Pappas. "We could of put them away early, but we didn't hit our free throws. That allowed them (Fairless) to stay in the game and gave them confidence."
"We work on our foul shooting in practice. I'm not sure what else to do. The one good thing was we were able to finish. Our kids stepped up defensively in the fourth."
The Panthers made 20 of 47 from the field (43 percent), and 14 of 33 from the line (42 percent), compared to the Falcons 20 of 41 (49 percent), and eight of 10 (80 percent).
The win allows the black and red to remained tied for the top position in the conference with Tusky Valley (17-1, 12-1), who defeated Timken 65-31 Wednesday. Both teams have two league games left. Manchester hosts Indian Valley, and visits Triway, while the Trojans entertain CVCA and Tuslaw.
Earlier in the week, the Lady Panthers won a pair of non-league contests as they downed Rittman 78-56 last Saturday, and Canton Central Catholic 75-62 on Monday.
The 78 point effort against the Indians was the team's high-water mark this season surpassing their previous output of 76 versus Triway.
Silver paced Manchester with a career-high 27 points, followed by Vanscoy with 18, Tabaka with 10, and Noble with nine.
The Panthers led wire-to-wire in the affair, racing out to a 22-14 advantage after one. They pushed their cushion to 41-26 at the break, and 60-45 thru three.
The black and red shot 50 percent from the field (27 of 54), and 59 percent from the line (20 of 34).
Manchester, who was rated 13th in this week's AP Division III state poll, had a more difficult challenge in its outing against Central Catholic, but was able to prevail nonetheless.
The Panthers trailed 9-8 after one quarter, but outscored the Crusaders 53-27 in the middle two frames to open a 61-36 advantage heading into the fourth.
Central Catholic (9-7) would trim the deficit to 66-52 with three minutes to play, but could get no closer.
Four different players scored in double-figures for Manchester led by Vanscoy with 20 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Silver added 16 points, and eight rebounds, Kayla Matheny had 16 points, and six boards, and Noble chipped in 10 markers, five rebounds, and four steals.
The Panthers finished the evening hitting 26 of 66 action shots (39 percent), and 14 of 25 foul shots (56 percent) to the Crusaders 21 of 42 (50 percent), and 14 of 23 (61 percent).
