9-0 second quarter run spearheads Lady Panthers to win at Lee County
Published 1:18 pm Monday, December 11, 2023
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LEESBURG – After securing their second win of the season over Crisp County the night before, the Sumter County Lady Panthers (SCHS) went down to Leesburg on Saturday and earned a hard-fought 54-48 victory over the Lee County Lady Trojans at Lee County High School.
While SCHS Head Coach Sherri Harris was pleased with the victory, she was concerned about her club’s inability to make shots at times.
“Everything right now is pretty much about us,” Harris said. “Tonight, I thought we shot horribly. I don’t know what the shooting field goal percentage was, but we just missed a lot of good open looks that we’ve been knocking down, so we had a bad night shooting. We still got the win on the road, so that’s always a good thing.”
D’Eria Clark led SCHS in scoring with 17 points and J’Niyah Edwards poured in 14. Cornecia Luster nearly got into the double-digit scoring column, as she scored eight points.
SCHS fell behind early 6-0 before Luster scored to give the Lady Panthers their first points of the game. That basket sparked a 7-0 run by the Lady Panthers and they were back in the game. About a minute later, Scott drilled a three-pointer to give SCHS a 10-8 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Over the first couple of minutes of the second quarter, both teams traded baskets, but the Lady Trojans took a 14-11 lead with a little over five minutes left in the first half on two foul shots from Kendall Millsaps.
Over the next few minutes, the Lady Panthers were able to force some turnovers and they went on a 9-0 run to take a 21-14 lead. They did this by forcing turnovers and scoring transition baskets. By halftime, it was still somewhat of a close game, but the Lady Panthers had a 27-16 lead.
In the early minutes of the second half, the Lady Trojans went on a 3-0 mini run and cut the SCHS lead to 27-19 before timeout was called by LCH.
Over the next few minutes, both teams traded baskets, but the Lady Panthers were able to go back up by 11 when J’Niyah Edwards scored, was fouled, and completed the three-point play.
For the remainder of the third quarter, the Lady Panthers continued to play solid at both ends of the court and went into the fourth quarter leading 43-27.
For the remainder of the game, the Lady Panthers continued to be efficient on offense and aggressive on defense. Though the Lady Trojans did make a run late in the game, the Lady Panthers were able to win by the score of 54-48
The Lady Panthers (3-0) will try to stay undefeated when they travel down to Tifton on Friday, December 15, to take on the Tift County Lady Blue Devils. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m.