Lady Pioneers dominated by Cookeville’s tough ‘D’
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The Lady Pioneers (12-10, 1-7 district) recorded more turnovers — 20 — than points, and managed just six field goals in the contest, which began with doubts regarding the starting lineup due to several players, including sophomore standout Whitney Pelham, being sick throughout the week.
“We played hard tonight, but we knew we were going to struggle offensively,” said coach Ann Eades. “Until we can get some more work done with people in positions we’re going to continue to struggle, but we played hard.
“We had some open looks, it’s just not falling for us right now. That’s something we’re going to have to continue to work on.”
Falling behind 12-6 by the end of the first quarter, the Lady Pioneers posted just five points in the second as Cookeville used a balanced scoring attack to take a 24-11 lead by the break.
A free throw from McKenna Rhea and a basket by Amanda Locke were the only points WCHS could muster in the third quarter, and the Lady Pioneers were held without a field goal through the fourth before a last-minute 3-pointer from Rhea closed out the game.
Warren County finished 2-for-17 from 3-point range, with Leah Cunningham hitting her team’s first attempt and Rhea making their last shot from behind the arc.
Cunningham finished with five points, while Rhea and Locke had four each. Linsey Cornelius had three, Vanessa Cornelius scored two and Brittany Brewer had one.
Cookeville was led by the duo of Ashley Taylor and Cara Reed, who scored 12 each. Meredith Redus had six, Leslie Tallent had five, Ashley Martin scored four and Lydia Jones had two while Lacie Bell scored one.
The Lady Cavaliers improved to 17-4 overall and remained undefeated in district play, upping their record to 8-0.
Late in the fourth quarter, WCHS post Hannah Higgins left the Lady Pioneer bench, and apparently left the team, as well.
Higgins, a sophomore, said she had grown increasingly frustrated at the lack of playing time she received, while younger players were on the court for more minutes.
“It’s been happening for a while,” Higgins said Saturday. “(Eades has) been playing freshmen before me, and I took it as meaning maybe I should work harder.
“So I started doing that. I started working my butt off, but she kept either not letting me not play at all, or letting me go in two minutes before the end of game. I kept telling myself, ‘Hannah, maybe they are just better than you,’ but I see all the time and effort I put in, and I realized she just didn’t need me.
“When she told me (Friday night) to go in with just a couple of minutes left in the game, I said I’ll just sit here, because the freshmen had been playing about 10 minutes, and I don’t know if she expected me to do something spectacular or not. So I told her I’ll just sit there, and she told me to go to the locker room. So I went and got my stuff and went out and sat in the stands, and that’s about it.”
“I have nothing against the freshmen, it’s not that, but seeing girls who are on the freshman team that are playing in front of me kind of hurt,” she added. “I kept telling myself I was going to do the best I can, but she never gave me the chance to show what I was made of, and it just wasn’t worth it.”
The Lady Pioneers travel to take on Baylor on Tuesday.