BASKETBALL: Late three-pointers carry Lady Panthers
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Late three-pointers from Maddy Keith and Mo Ramsey erased a five-point deficit with under a minute to go and Pinckneyville won for the tenth consecutive game, defeating Carlyle 57-56 on the road Tuesday night.
"We were pretty good for 13 minutes in the first half and for the final minute," said PCHS head coach Alan Englehardt. "We have to find a way to play at that level all the time and not be so streaky if we want to have continued success."
Pinckneyville didn't get off to the start they wanted, trailing 4-0 a couple minutes into the game, but for the next 13 minutes the Lady Panthers were dominant, building up a 32-16 advantage. Carlyle stuck around, cutting the defecit to 32-23 at halftime.
"After that point, we stopped attacking and looked like we just wanted to hang on," Engelhardt said. "We were still getting the ball into the middle of the zone, but instead of getting the ball to the rim the way we had in the first half, we just looked to unload the ball back outside."
"I thought we allowed our struggles on offense to carry over to defense, giving up 33 second half points and allowing their posts, who we had held scoreless in the first half, to score 16 points."
With 40 seconds left in the game, Pinckneyville's lead had entirely evaporated and the Lady Indians were on top 56-51 when Keith buried a three-pointer for PCHS.
Keith then deflected the inbounds pass and Pinckneyville recovered, setting up Ramsey's three-pointer as the Lady Panthers went back on top 57-56.
Carlyle turned it over on their next possession and Pinckneyville held on for the one-point win despite 13 second-half turnovers.
Katrina Henson and Taylor Cicardi led PCHS with 11 points each, Ramsey and Dani Jenkel added 7, Keith and Heather McDaniel 6, Taylor Kuhnert 4, Lindsey Winter 3 and Haley Simpson 2.
The Lady Panthers (13-4) are on the road again Thursday when they face Murphysboro (j.v. - 6:30 p.m.).