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BASKETBALL: Hornettes sting PCHS in Regional semis

Posted February 08, 2012 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Class 2A's fifth ranked team in the state is now one win away from their thirteenth consecutive girls basketball Regional championship as Nashville pounded Pinckneyville 44-18 to advance into Thursday's finals at Thomas Gymnasium.

The Hornettes swarmed the glass on the Lady Panthers' end, not allowing PCHS to grab a single offensive rebound in the entire game.

"(Nashville) did a great job checking us off," said Pinckneyville head coach Alan Engelhardt. "They're good at just doing the little things, and that's why they're successful."

The Lady Panthers were solid defensively, but could manage only 21 shot attempts on the offensive end of the floor as they struggled to find both open looks and open lanes.

"We were at a size disadvantage, and we were at a major strength disadvantage, so it's tough to get (the ball inside) against them," Engelhard said. "They do a tremendous job shutting off gaps. Our only way to get in there was to get our guards posted up or to get dribble penetration, and we just couldn't get that accomplished tonight."

The Hornettes got off to a quick 15-6 start and never looked back, but Pinckneyville was able to slow them down in the middle quarters to keep the game within reach before a 14-5 fourth period by Nashville.

"I thought we guarded them fairly well," said Engelhardt, "but they weren't letting us get any offense, so it makes it an uphill battle."

"We had to have three things happen, number one we had to guard the paint pretty well, which we did a decent job of. We needed them to have an off-shooting night, which they didn't shoot the ball real well tonight, but I thought we closed out fairly well on shooters. Then the third part of it was we had to get some offense going, and they kept us from doing that. They did a good job of preventing us from reversing the floor."

Haley Simpson led PCHS with 6 points in the game, Heather McDaniel pitched in 4, Alyssa Hirsch, Lindsey Winter, Dani Schoenbacher and Keelyn Stein all finished with 2. Erica Brown led NHS with 14 points.

The Hornettes will take on Freeburg in Thursday's championship. Freshman Megan Bagley advanced in the three-point showdown for the Lady Panthers, who end their season with a record 15-15.

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