Cold night for Lady Pioneers
COOKEVILLE — Friday night’s girls basketball game between the Lady Pioneers and the Cookeville Lady Cavaliers was scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start.
Unfortunately, the Lady Pioneer offense didn’t get started until much later.
Held without a field goal for much of the first half, coach Ann Eades’ squad went on to suffer its fourth straight loss, falling to the homestanding Lady Cavs 47-31.
“We’re just not tough,” Eades said after the game, which dropped her team’s record to 11-9 overall and 4-8 in District 7-AAA. “We’re not physically tough, we’re not mentally tough, and we’re going to have to be if we want to win in this district.”
Held to their worst shooting performance of the season, the Lady Pioneers managed to connect on just 10 of their 40 attempts from the field, and fell behind 6-0 before Alyssa Lankford hit the back end of a pair of free throws for the team’s first — and only — point of the first quarter.
A free throw from Cara Reed, followed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Ashley Martin, put Cookeville up 13-1 before Leanne Pelham scored Warren County’s first field goal of the contest. That shot came at the 3:32 mark of the second quarter, and a Leah Cunningham 3-pointer accounted for the team’s only other score as they went into the halftime locker room down 18-6.
The Lady Pioneers heated up a bit after intermission, but their cold start was too much to overcome, and the Lady Cavaliers kept momentum on their side through the final two quarters of the contest.
Reed, who was recognized during the second half for recording her 1,000th career rebound, posted six points in the third quarter to help the Lady Cavs take a 32-16 lead by the period’s end.
Amanda Locke came on strong late for the Lady Pioneers, scoring nine of her team-high 11 points in the fourth quarter. But with a more-than-comfortable advantage, Cookeville matched Warren County’s 15 points in the period to seal the 16-point victory.
Reed finished with a double-double, her second of the year against Warren County. The senior netted 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds in the winning effort. Meredith Redus and Ashley Martin scored eight each, while Dani Green had six.
Locke’s 11 led Warren County, which got six points from Leanne Pelham and four each from Whitney Pelham and Cunningham. McKenna Rhea added a fourth-quarter 3-pointer, while Brittany Brewer had two and Lankford had one point.
The Lady Pioneers will wrap up their regular-season district schedule this week, with trips to Siegel on Tuesday and to Lebanon Friday night.