Lady Panthers cruise to 58-33 win over Du Quoin

PINCKNEYVILLE - If Kenzie Rushing was anywhere near the rim, she was putting the ball in the basket Tuesday night.

Rushing scored 21 points with a variety of layups to lead Pinckneyville High School's girls basketball team to a 58-33 romp of rival Du Quoin in an SIRR Mississippi Division game at Duster Thomas Gymnasium.

Megan Breslin was pretty good too with 18 points to help the Lady Panthers improve to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

Du Quoin dipped to 4-4 and 0-2 with the loss.

Rushing, a 5-foot-8 sophomore guard, scored the game's first basket, then Du Quoin took its only lead of the night on a 3-pointer by Chloe Hill.

Pinckneyville went on an 18-2 run after that, starting with a shot from Bella Pasquino, another sophomore. A putback from Breslin, after two straight buckets from sophomore Payton Morgan, gave the Lady Panthers a 12-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Layups by Rushing early in the second period forced a Du Quoin timeout and two buckets from Aubrey Bruns made it 20-5 with 4:10 still left in the first half.

The Lady Indians stopped the run with a free throw from Morgan Bullar and a 3-pointer by Delaynie Dearmond, then Pinckneyville went on a 12-0 run that spanned into the second half.

Rushing had three nifty layups to make the score 32-9 at the 6:30 mark of the third quarter.

Hill stopped that flurry with a deep, deep 3-pointer. Pinckneyville answered with shots from Breslin and Pasquino, with a slick assist from Rushing on her fellow sophomore's layup.

Du Quoin, which was again without Elizabeth Bird, whittled the margin down to 14 points with big shots from Hill and Bailey Harsy. It was closest at 37-23 with 2:45 left in the third.

But the Lady Panthers eventually built their biggest lead at the end of the game with layups by Elaine Shaneyfelt and Kassidy Lee after Rushing converted a three-point play for her final points with 2:49 left.

Dearmond led Du Quoin with 10 points. Hill and Harsy both had six and freshman Lauren Heape had four coming off her 18-point performance against West Frankfort.

Pinckneyville's next game is at Carlyle on Saturday, with a return to conference play Tuesday against Anna-Jonesboro.

Du Quoin is home against Sparta on Tuesday and again Thursday against Anna-Jonesboro before traveling to Marion for an afternoon game on Saturday, Dec. 15.