Lebanon too much for Lady Pioneers
Friday night the Lady Pioneers had a solid offensive performance against District 7 AAA foe Lebanon. But solid foul shooting late in the fourth period by the Lady Blue Devils gave Lebanon the 63-50 win.
With the loss, the Lady Pioneers fell to 12-12 on the season and 1-7 in district play.
“We continue to improve and the girls played hard all night. We have struggled on offense in the past but the last three games we have put at least 50 points on the board and that’s very positive,” said coach Ann Eades.” We have had a lot of sickness over the past week but the girls continued to work hard and make improvements. We want to get competitive and look for young players to come in and build for the future.”
“The positive thing tonight was the ball game wasn’t over until about three minutes to go. We were still hanging around, a three here and a turnover there would have made a difference. The girls stayed focus and never stopped fighting. I’m just very proud of their effort tonight.”
Warren County jumped out first with four quick points. The Lady Blue Devils countered with seven unanswered in the first period. Whitney Pelham sparked the Lady Pioneers with five points as she helped Warren County pull within four by the end of the quarter 17-13.
Pelham once again led the Lady Pioneers in the second period as she opened the quarter with a three and then put Warren County ahead from the foul line 18-17. Solid defense and aggressive rebounding, helped Warren County control much of the second quarter. Jasmine Ware added two at the 6:03 mark with WCHS leading 20-19. Lebanon then went on a 13 point run over the next six minutes as every thing seemed to fall. Pelham closed out the half as she hit a three with 11 seconds on the clock to pull Warren County within seven, 32-25.
In the third period Lebanon’s Ashley Simonis opened up with a three but Pelham answered with her own shot from behind the arc. Kelly Hallums put in two three’s over the next two minutes for the Lady Blue Devils as they extended their lead 42-30. Warren County went on a nine point run with just under four minutes to play in the period and Linsey Cornelius hit from the paint as the horn sounded ending the third with the Lady Pioneers trailing 48-39.
In the final period Lebanon secured the game from the foul line, hitting 7- of -12. The Lady Pioneers pulled within 11 at the 2:43 mark. Lebanon used the clock to their advantage as time expired to take the 13 point win.
The Lady Pioneers turned the ball over just nine times and were 4 out of 7 from the line.
Pelham led the way for Warren County with 15 points. Ware had 13, Linsey Cornelius hit for nine, Leah Cunningham had six, Kati Simpson added four points and Brittany Brewer added a three.
For Lebanon, Kristin Kirkland led all scores with 22 points. Amanda Wilbert had 13, Hallums had 11, Simonis had nine and Megan Thompson added eight.