BASKETBALL: Lady Panthers overcome scoreless first quarter to beat Hamilton County

The Lady Panthers overcame a scoreless opening period and fought their way back for a 32-26 victory over tournament host Hamilton County on Tuesday night at the Lady Foxes Invitational to improve to 2-0.

Ham-Co led 6-0 after the opening quarter, but the Lady Panthers fought their way back to tie at 9-9 at the half before outscoring the Lady Foxes 9-2 in the third to lead 18-11 heading to the fourth period.

"This was the definition of an ugly win," said PCHS head coach Alan Engelhardt. "We could not make anything from the perimeter and Hamilton County took away our inside game very successfully. After a scoreless first quarter, we did a better job of executing afterwards, running our stuff and getting some easier shots around the rim."

The two teams found their offense in the fourth, but Pinckneyville managed to hang on for the win behind Sophie Keith's double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.

"I thought we defended pretty well for most of the game and did a good job of keeping ourselves in it even when our offense was struggling," Engelhardt said. "We still have work to do on several situational issues, and we need to gain some consistency, but it was good to see us find a way to fight through adversity with Sophie fouling out and Raygan Yates getting knocked down and out of the game. When you look and see two freshmen out there to end the game in such a hostile environment, you hope that it is a learning experience that your team can grow from."

Mayci Doerflein chipped in 9 points, Taylor Smith had 4, Yates 3, Caitlyn Anderson 2 and Gabby Bartnicki 2.

The Lady Panthers will get some time to regroup before their 7 p.m. matchup with Zeigler-Royalton on Friday. Pinckneyville plays twice at the tournament on Saturday, first against Galatia at 10:30 a.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. against Lawrenceville.