BASKETBALL: PCHS downs short-handed Du Quoin

Pinckneyville led by just three at the half, but pulled away from Du Quoin with a 16-4 third quarter on their way to a 48-32 victory at Thomas Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Nine different Lady Panthers scored as the short-handed Lady Indians wore down in the second half. Du Quoin played without guards Kat Robinson (illness) and Hannah Baxter (illness) and forward Mackenzie Jackson (illness).

"Our legs were probably a little bit gone in that fourth quarter," said DHS head coach Shawn File. "We hung around, we were down three at halftime, but in the third quarter we let up a little bit on our defensive intensity and they were able to get a few looks."

Alaina Caldwell had a pair of three-pointers in the first half for Du Quoin to help the Lady Indians stay close at 23-20 entering the break as Pinckneyville's offense had at that point failed to find a consistent answer to the zone defense.

"Early on I thought we were settling too much for one pass and a shot, one pass and a shot, one dribble and a shot, too many one dribble pull-ups," said PCHS head coach Alan Engelhardt.

But in the third quarter, the Lady Panthers found some rhythm and Keelyn Stein put in six of her game-high ten points to help Pinckneyville build a fifteen-point edge heading to the fourth.

"Finally we started attacking," Engelhardt said, "whether it was a post touch or a dribble drive and that got our offense going. In the second half we did a much better job as a group of several kids attacking, several kids spotting up and setting their feet instead of just standing around too much."

"Thank goodness we got aggressive. We've been so timid all year as far as getting in the passing lanes and doing some of those things, and finally they wore down a little bit and we got after it."

Du Quoin managed just four field goals and twelve total points in the second half.

"We competed well, Pinckneyville did a good job of d-ing us up in the second half," said File. "They made a couple of adjustments and we weren't able to get as many open looks. We've said it all year, we've got to finish better. We're not the greatest shooters in the world right now. We've got to finish lay-ups, we missed our fair share of lay-ups."

Andrea Morgan had nine points to finish as PCHS's second leading scorer for the night. Caitie Opp and Kearsten Opp each had six points, Sophie Keith five, Raygan Yates and Caitlyn Anderson each had four, and Taylor Smith and Kaitlyn Goldman both finished with two.

"Especially in the first half, Andrea Morgan was huge for us," said Englehardt, "putting it on the deck and getting to the rim."

For Du Quoin, Grace Haney's nine points led the way. Caldwell and Kate Smith each added seven, Jordyn Bullar three, and Tarynn Mays, Sadie Day and Emily Born all had two.

DHS won the junior varsity game 25-21, getting a dozen points from Haney. Yates led Pinckneyville with nine.

The Lady Panthers (5-3, 2-0) play at Benton on Thursday night. Du Quoin is off until next Tuesday when they travel to Sparta.