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Lady Panthers win first two games

PINCKNEYVILLE - The Pinckneyville High School girls basketball team won its weather-delayed season opener Monday night against Trenton Wesclin, 52-36.

The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the first quarter, only to see Wesclin storm back in the second period and get within a basket. Then after falling behind in the third quarter, Pinckneyville finished the game on a 25-7 run.

Megan Breslin led all scorers with 22 points, including a stretch of 13 straight in the fourth quarter. She hit three 3-pointers in the run. Kenzie Rushing added 19 points and Aubrey Bruns put in eight with a basket in each period.

Wesclin didn't have a player reach double figures.

"I thought we played a pretty good first quarter and a really good fourth quarter, but we weren't very good in between," Pinckneyville coach Alan Engelhardt said. "We need to be able to dictate tempo, to get out and run. At the beginning of the game, our defense created some opportunities for us and the game got into an up-and-down tempo, but in the middle, it slowed, allowing them to get back and set up in their sagging zone."

Then on Tuesday, the Lady Panthers opened play in Nashville's tournament and rolled to a 58-36 win over Okawville behind a big second-quarter eruption.

Rushing pumped in 27 points and Breslin had 18 for the Lady Panthers, with Bella Pasquino chipping in seven.

"I thought we did a nice job in the first half with our pressure defense, especially in the second quarter," Engelhardt said. "Our rotations were better and led to more offensive opportunities. Offensively, we did a better job against the zone than we did in our first game. We attacked it instead of just playing around the perimeter which led to better scoring options for us."

Pinckneyville plays Collinsville in the tournament Saturday at noon with a chance to play for the championship later in the evening.