WCHS girls roll in 7-AAA finale: Twelve Lady Pioneers score in 19-point rout
LEBANON — The Lady Pioneers closed out their District 7-AAA regular season in style Friday night, dominating the Lebanon Devilettes for an 81-62 road victory.
Posting their highest point total of the season, coach Ann Eades’ squad improved to 13-9 with the win, and finished the district season with six wins balanced against eight losses.
“It was a shootout, wasn’t it?” Eades said after the game. “We got points out of a lot of players, and it was good to see that. We were able to get a lot of girls in, and that can save our legs for a busy week of games.”
Every Lady Pioneer who dressed for Friday’s contest saw action, with 12 of the 13 entering the scoring column.
Led by Amanda Locke’s 13 points, the Lady Pioneers got 12 each from Leanne Pelham and Tia Williams, while Whitney Pelham added 10.
Vanessa Cornelius had eight points, Heather Frazier scored seven, and Leah Cunningham and Alyssa Lankford had five each. Sallie Slatton chipped in four, while McKenna Rhea and Kara Youngblood added two each and Nikki Griffith had one point.
Lebanon’s girls actually had a brief lead in the game, when Meghan Maynard scored the contest’s first basket. But the Lady Pioneers took control for good with a 16-0 run, and went ahead 23-10 by the first quarter’s end.
Frazier added five points for WCHS in the second, and Williams had four more as the Lady Pioneers posted 23 in the quarter on the way to a 46-30 halftime lead.
Lebanon senior Kristin Kirkland, who led all scorers with 30 points, tried to put her team on her shoulders and single-handedly carry them back into the contest in the second half. Kirkland posted 13 points in the third, and the Devilettes out-scored WCHS 21-17 in the period. But Warren County sealed the win at the free-throw line in the fourth, connecting on 12 of their 15 attempts in the quarter.
In addition to Kirkland’s big night, the Devilettes got 11 points from Jessica Carter.
Warren County faced DeKalb County on Saturday night and takes on Coffee County Tuesday to wrap up the regular season.