BASKETBALL: Off night for offense dooms Lady Panthers
CAMPBELL HILL, IL - Pinckneyville shot a measly 18% (10-for-58) from the floor and 22% (2-for-9) from the free throw line in Thursday night's Class 2A Trico Regional Championship, resulting in a 40-27 defeat at the hands of the Red Bud Lady Musketeers.
The Lady Panthers scored just ten points in the opening half and struggled mightily to put the ball in the basket except for a minute-and-a-half stretch in the third quarter where they got to within three points of the Lady Musketeers before entering another scoring drought.
"We got good shots," said PCHS head coach Alan Engelhardt, "We missed 15 in the paint, when you miss 30 points worth of shots in the paint, you're not going to win. That's the bottom line."
"I thought we guarded well enough to win, obviously, if you hold somebody to 40. I think a lot of their points came when we got our heads down. I thought we did what we needed to do on the defensive end, but it comes back to needing to make shots."
Not only was Pinckneyville ice cold from the painted area, but they also made good on just 5-of-28 attempted three-pointers.
"When we didn't hit the inside shots, then we started to put up the threes too quickly," Engelhardt said, "and obviously we didn't hit those either."
Neither team could get it going on offense in the first quarter, which ended with Red Bud on top 7-5. The Lady Musketeers pulled ahead 11-5 two minutes into the second quarter, but PCHS kept it close with a bucket from Dani Schoenbacher and a three by Katelyn Mayer. Red Bud scored the last six points of the half, however, and led 17-10 at the break.
Back-to-back hoops from Red Bud's Grace Richards gave the Musketeers a 23-12 lead, but the Lady Panthers still had a pulse. Haley Simpson put in two with 3:17 to go in the third quarter, then Schoenbacher and Mayer connected on three-pointers to cap off an 8-0 run. With 1:44 left in the third, Pinckneyville trailed just 23-20.
From there, it was all Red Bud. Up 25-22 early in the fourth period, Ali Ringering put in a pair of three-pointers as part of the Lady Musketeers' 8-0 run of their own. Ringering finished with a game-high 18 points.
"We'd guarded pretty well (up until that point)," said Engelhardt, "and we kind of got our heads down. Instead of staying with our trap like we'd done so well with, we just relaxed. (Ringering is) a good player and she's going to hit those."
PCHS got just one field goal the rest of the way - a three from Schoenbacher with a minute to go. Aside from the 8-0 spurt in the third quarter, the Lady Panthers made just seven field goals the other 30-plus minutes of the ball game.
"I can't fault our defense, and I can't fault our defensive effort," Engelhardt said, "but you've got to make shots."
Mayer had 10 points to lead Pinckneyville, Schoenbacher finished with 8, Alyssa Hirsch 4, Haley Simpson and Keelyn Stein 2, and Sophie Keith 1. Mayer also led the Lady Panthers in rebounds with 9, Keith grabbed 6.
Pinckneyville wraps up their season with a record of 16-14 while Red Bud moves on to the Dupo Sectional to meet Carterville next Tuesday. Nashville and Breese Central make up the other half of the Dupo Sectional.