BASKETBALL: Lady Panthers come back to win 11th in a row
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Lady Panthers trailed early but responded late and kept their winning streak alive, getting past Vandalia 69-54 on Saturday afternoon at PCHS's Thomas Gymnasium for their 11th consecutive victory.
Five different Pinckneyville players knocked down three-pointers in the game and Taylor Cicardi (28 points, 15 rebounds) and Maddy Keith (13 pts, 10 rbs) both finished with double-doubles for the Lady Panthers.
Vandalia was hot in the early-going, racing out to 38 points by the half and leading throughout the first two quarters.
"We really struggled defensively in the first half, especially against the dribble drive, not moving our feet, and not getting rotations when others had to help," said PCHS girls basketball coach Alan Engelhardt. "Offensively we settled for too many jumpers in the first half, but 30 points isn't a bad output."
Pinckneyville got after it defensively in the second half, however, holding the Lady Vandals (7-10) to just 16 points in the final 16 minutes while keeping things going at the offensive end.
"The second half the girls did a good job of getting after it defensively, which translated into big offensive runs as well," Engelhardt said. "Offensively we did a much better job getting the ball inside and then kicking it out to our shooters. We did some very nice things offensively, scoring off post ups, basket cuts, drives, and kick-outs. When we are versatile like that, we can be hard to defend."
Mo Ramsey added 9 points for Pinckneyville, all on three-pointers. Heather McDaniel and Dani Jenkel each finished with 7 points, Katrina Henson had 5.
The Lady Panthers (15-4) try to stay on a roll tonight against Carterville, a team they handled 57-34 back in December. Tip-off for the J-V contest is set for 6:30 p.m. with varsity going on around 7:45 p.m.