Following a break for the holidays, the Chapel Hill Lady Panthers (6-2, 5-1) have been working all week for the second portion of their season.

The Lady Panthers face host Riverdale Tuesday and travel to Morrow Jan. 8 in a pair of key region contests.

“We’ll know a lot more about our team as far as the region race is concerned following those two games,” said Lady Panthers’ coach Sherri Hintz.

Chapel Hill hasn’t played since Dec. 18, when the Lady Panthers won at Lovejoy.

“I’m pleased that we have won the games that we should have won,” said Hintz. “But I’m looking for more intensity. We haven’t had the kill factor. We need to work hard and make every play right.”

Hintz feels her offense has played better than the defense in most games.

Although it didn’t show against Lovejoy in its last game, the Lady Panthers have been scoring well up front.

“Sometimes we have trouble on offense like we did against Lovejoy with lack of concentration. We can’t afford letdowns,” said the coach.

Defensively, the team could be a bit more consistent.

“We’ve played mostly man-to-man and had sparks,” said Hintz.

State-ranked Westlake leads the region with a perfect 5-0 region record.

Westlake, which defeated CHHS earlier this season, hosts the Lady Panthers Jan. 26 in their second regular-season meeting.

“I think we could beat them next time. We outscored them in the second half in that first game,” said Hintz.

At the one-third point of the way in the region race, Westlake, Chapel Hill and Mundy’s Mill (4-2) appear to be the top girls teams in Region 4-AAAAA as teams battle for seeding positions for the region tournament.