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AMERICUS – Sumter County point junior guard Jesstynie Scott, a Schley County transfer, made her presence loud and clear at the Panther Den Saturday night. Scott led the Lady Panthers on a 21-8 third quarter run that would eventually lead to a 58-31 victory for SCHS over Lee County Saturday night to open the season.

While SCHS Head Coach Sherri Harris was pleased with the victory to open the season, she expressed her concern over her club’s inability to knock down free throws.

“We came out with a lot of energy in the beginning and then we kinda fizzled out. We are missing entirely too many free throws,” Harris said. “We start practice off every day shooting free throws. I think we were eight for 20 or something like that. That’s entirely too many missed free throws. If he had just made half of the free throws, we’re up by almost 30 points. Those are the things that we are working on, but not executing them in the game. We just have to get better.”

Scott led the Lady Panthers with 22 points and J’niyah Edwards poured in 14 in the winning cause.

The Lady Panthers went on a 6-0 run to start the game and that run was capped off with a break away layup by Scott. Both teams were aggressive defensively in the first quarter, which made for a low-scoring couple of minutes. However, with a little over two minutes remaining in the quarter, D’Eria Clark drilled a three-pointer to give the Lady Panthers a 9-2 lead. Over the final two minutes of the first quarter, both teams traded baskets, but SCHS maintained a 12-9 led by the quarter’s end.

With a little over seven minutes left before halftime, Scott drained a three-pointer to give the Lady Panthers a 15-9 lead, but the Lady Trojans were able to answer at the other end with a basket by Taliyah Porter. This was the beginning of a 6-2 run by LCH that enabled them to tie the game at 15-15.

Over the remaining minutes of the first half, both teams struggled to score, as each team was playing tenacious half-court defense. Nevertheless, the Lady Panthers got six straight points from Scott to take a 24-16 lead at the half.

Scott scored 14 of her game high 22 points to lead the Lady Panthers in the first half.

Over the first couple of minutes of the third quarter, both teams traded baskets, but Scott was able to convert another three-point play to give the Lady Panthers a 29-20 lead. Shortly thereafter, Scott struck again with a three-pointer. This was all part of a 12-4 run by the Lady Panthers in the third quarter and it led to a 36-20 lead before LCH Head Coach Tondra Davis had to call timeout with 3:56 to go in the quarter.

That timeout didn’t stop SCHS, however, as the Lady Panthers went on another 8-0 run to take a 44-20 lead. In total, it was a dominating third quarter for the Lady Panthers, as they outscored the Lady Trojans 21-8.

In the early minutes of the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers went to a full-court press and they were able to force more turnovers and turn them into points, which has been a staple of the Lady Panthers over the past several years. With 6:10 to go in the game, SCHS led 54-27 before Davis called another tine out.

For the remainder of the game, the Lady Panthers were able to maintain their large lead and went on to defeat the Lady Trojans 58-31.

The Lady Panthers (1-0) will head across the Flint River to take on Crisp County on Friday, December 8. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m.