STANDISH-STERLING - Mar. 1, 2010 - It may be a cliche, but it is also very true: basketball games are won and lost at the free throw line.

Standish-Sterling's girls, who shot better than 60 percent at the free throw line in the regular season, missed 12 of their 17 free throws in Monday's district tournament opener against Jack Pine Conference champion Gladwin. While that 29 percent performance wasn't the only reason the Panthers' season ended with a 56-50 loss to the Flying G's, it was certainly a big factor.

As was Gladwin shooting 22-of-31 (71 percent), including 7-of-8 by Melanie Smalley and 5-of-6 by Ashley Ford in the fourth quarter alone.

SSC coach Kevin King repeated the old mantra after the game.

"Free throws win games," he said. "The team that won tonight was the team that deserved to win. They executed better and they certainly shot their free throws better.

"We had some bad focus tonight. We missed two rotations on Smalley and both times she hit 3-pointers. We respected Gladwin and they didn't surprise us with anything. They just simply played better."

The Panthers seemed to have things going their way through most of the first half, pushing the tempo and forcing Gladwin turnovers with their full court pressure. Allison Collier, playing on a sore ankle injured in last Thursday's game, scored 10 points in the first half, and Brooke Bartlett's 3-pointer gave SSC a 21-18 lead late in the first half.

But Gladwin ended the first half on a six-point run, getting four points from Meredith Rosin and a basket from Britni Balzer -- all on offensive rebounds -- for a 24-21 lead at the break.

The Panthers never led in the second half, coming up empty on plenty of opportunities in the paint, as well as at the line.

Gladwin ran off a six-point run early in the third quarter to take a 32-25 lead, but every time the Panthers got close it seemed Smalley was there to stem the tide. After the Panthers pulled back to within 32-30, Smalley drilled a trey from the top of the circle to send Gladwin to the fourth quarter up five points.

Abbye Gulvas' three-point play with 3:30 left gave the Panthers hope, pulling them back to within 41-37, but Smalley answered with a trey on the Gladwin's next possession to open up a seven-point lead. The G's hit 10-of-14 at the line in the final two minutes to keep the Panthers at bay.

Smalley finished with a game-high 22 points, with Rosin adding 14 and Ford 11. Gladwin (17-4) plays JPC cellar-dweller Harrison (0-20) in Wednesday's semifinal for the right to meet Ogemaw Heights or Tawas Area in Friday's district final. The G's beat the Hornets 66-7 and 49-26 in two earlier meetings this season.

Bartlett finished with 13 points for the Panthers (15-6), with Collier adding 10 and Christina Proulx nine.

"We had a great year and these are great kids," King said. "We have some glaring weaknesses we need to fix, but we're capable of being a very good team. We need to look at ourselves and do what it takes to get better.

"If I know these kids the way I think I do, we will be better."