Girls Prep Basketball: Lady Panthers win at Sparta

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville Community High School's girls basketball team made a late season statement in the River-to-River Conference Tuesday, posting an impressive 65-53 road win at Sparta.

The Lady Panthers, 18-9, are 6-3 in the SIRR and welcome Chester to Thomas Gymnasium for Senior Night activities and the final league game Thursday.

The loss was Sparta's third in league play, again clinching the division title for Nashville.

"This was a nice team win. We did a good job of sharing the

basketball, handing out 17 assists and putting ourselves in good

positions to shoot a high percentage," Lady Panthers coach Alan Engelhardt said. "We also had different girls step up during different points in the game."

PCHS placed three scorers in double digits, led by Lindsey Winter's 18 points. Taylor Cicardi added 16 points and Emily Miller a dozen more as the Lady Panthers opened a 32-25 lead by halftime.

Miller and Winter combined for five of Pinckneyville's eight three-point shots during the contest.

Winter and Dani Jenkel were red hot in the second half as PCHS pulled away, combining for 25 of Pinckneyville's 34 points.

"Maddy Keith had a big first quarter, and Taylor Cicardi and Emily Miller had big first halves," Engelhardt said. "Then in the second half, Lindsey Winter scored 16 of her 18 points and Dani Jenkel had all 9 of her points. When we have different girls stepping up in different situations, we become very hard to guard. I think we are starting to improve, as we have shown in our last couple of outings."