HamCo Lady Foxes Round Robin: Lady Panthers Start with Win

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Defending champion Pinckneyville and host Hamilton County were victorious as the Lady Foxes Round-Robin Tournament tipped off in McLeansboro Monday night.

The Lady Panthers, 1-0, closed with a strong second half to dispatch of Zeigler-Royalton/Christopher 61-42 after Hamilton County ripped Galatia-Thompsonville 68-30.

Tuesday night's session has G-T battling Pinckneyville (6:00) and Gallatin County facing Z-R-C (7:30).

" This definitely looked like the first game of the year for us," Lady Panthers coach Alan Engelhardt said. "I thought the girls played very hard, but we never really got a rhythm going. In the middle quarters we did a much better job of rotating defensively and disrupting ZRCs offense, which led to some easy points for us. "

Taylor Cicardi paced Pinckneyville's effort with 17 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals. Emily Miller added 15 more points as the Lady Panthers shook off serious foul problems.

Katrina Henson, Kortney Crawford and Mo Ramsey came off the bench to score a dozen points and give Engelhardt several quality minutes.

Pinckneyville led 16-13 after one period and pulled in front 33-21 by intermission. A 21-12 third quarter edge sealed the outcome.

Dani Jenkel had seven point with Crawford and Maddy Keith each netting six. Henson contributed four points.

"Taylor Cicardi had a huge night," Engelhardt concluded. "She came up just two steals short of a triple-double. Our bench really came up big for us tonight, too."

In HamCo's lopsided win over Galatia-Thompsonville, the hosts built a 39-4 halftime lead and were never challenged.

Emma Morton had 11 points for HamCo, which held G-T to just 13 field goals.

Hannah Cockrum's 12 points was high for the Lady Bearcats, who tangle with Z-R-C Wednesday night.

The tournament concludes with games on Friday and Saturday.