Lady Panthers take rivalry game over Du Quoin, 44-36

In a game with playoff implications the Du Quoin Lady Indians fell eight points short at Pinckneyville Tuesday, losing 44-36 to snap a three-game winning streak; while the Lady Panthers extended their winning streak to three and five of their last six games.

"We dug ourselves a hole, but we didn't give up and won the second half," said Du Quoin coach Shawn File after the game. "We're pretty evenly matched - beating them by 10 at our place and they beat us by eight at their place.

"There's a chance we're on a collision course to play each other in the regionals in a few weeks."

In the highly competitive SIRR Mississippi Division Du Quoin fell to 2-5, but remains over .500 at 13-11. Pinckneyville upped its record to 16-8 and 4-3 in the conference.

"I thought our defense was pretty good tonight," said Pinckneyville Coach Alan Engelhardt. "We kept them from getting many easy looks at the rim, and it led to some run-outs and layups for us.

"Offensively, we didn't shoot the ball very well, but we found a way to get to the rim to get some baskets. This was the type of game we were struggling to win earlier in the year, so this was a positive step."

Lauren Heape led Du Quoin with nine points with Grace Alongi and Loveleen Dunklin scoring seven points each. Pinckneyville was led by Kenzie Rushing with 11 points and Lily Britt with 10, including two 3-pointers, with Lily Tanner and Payton Morgan adding seven each.

The Lady Indians led early, but the Lady Panthers roared back to take a 12-8 lead after the first quarter.

"We were right in the ballgame after the first quarter by a couple of baskets, but we were getting into foul trouble which kind of hurt us in the second quarter when they had their big run," File said. "Pinckneyville came out mixing and matching a 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone. Bailey and Grace both hit 3s in the first quarter that hopefully would open up the zone, but then in the second quarter we just went cold."

File said defensively, the Lady Indians seemed to be a step slow.

"When Pinckneyville gets out in transition they do a pretty good job of scoring and that's kind of what happened in the second quarter," File said. "We didn't make them score in the half-court and we have to do that to be successful."

Pinckneyville expanded their lead to 27-13 at the half, outscoring Du Quoin 15-5.

"Early, Taylor Kurtz had a big steal and basket for us when we were struggling to score, and it got us going," Engelhardt said. "Then Kenzie got us going with some transition buckets and assists the rest of the first half.

"At the end of the half, Haliegh Kling kept a ball alive and we ended up getting a nice screen from Emily Ruppert and basket by Lily to give us a 14-point halftime cushion."

Du Quoin won the second half, cutting the lead by three after the third quarter and by three again in the fourth.

"At halftime we talked about picking up our intensity and energy level defensively and I thought we did a much better job of that in the second half," File said. "We won both the third quarter and fourth quarter and cut it down to seven in the fourth quarter, but we had dug ourselves too big a hole."

The Lady Indians finished with four 3-pointers, led by Alongi with one each from Heape and Bailey Harsy.

Du Quoin has three games remaining starting with Sparta (7-16, 0-7 Mississippi) at home Thursday night. The Lady Indians won their first meeting at Sparta, 52-33.

Pinckneyville also has three games remaining starting with a road game against Anna-Jonesboro Thursday. The Lady Panthers won the first meeting 49-44.

<b>Scoring</b>Quarter-by-quarter scoring: Pinckneyville, 12 15 10 07 44; Du Quoin, 08 05 13 10 36.

Pinckneyville scoring: Taylor Kurtz 5; Lily Tanner 7; Aubrey Bruns 4; Lily Britt 10; Kenzie Rushing 11; Payton Morgan 7.

Du Quoin scoring: Heape 9; Harsy 5; Alongi 7; L. Dunklin 7; A. Dunklin 4; Dearmond 4.

3-Pointers: Du Quoin 4 (Heape, Harsy, Alongi 2); Pinckneyville 3 (Bruns, Britt 2).