2009 Herrin Holiday Hoops Tournament: Lady Panthers Finish Third

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Hoping to remove all doubt and become the true and outright Herrin Holiday Hoops tournament champions, the host Lady Tigers pulled away from Pinckneyville in the second half Saturday night for a 47-32 victory to complete a five-game sweep at the round-robin event.

Emily Miller's 3-pointer from the top of the key gave the Lady Panthers a brief 28-27 lead with 3:42 left in the third quarter, but Herrin went on a 20-4 run over the remainder of the game to notch its 11th straight win and improve to 15-2 overall.

Austyn Ridings made 9 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter and finished with 19 points to lead the Lady Tigers. The senior guard was named MVP of the tournament after finishing with 99 points in five games.

Herrin held an 18-9 lead in the second quarter - with Ridings scoring 10 of those points - and took a 23-17 lead into the halftime break. After two straight layups by Nikki Hall put Herrin's advantage at 27-19, the Lady Panthers scored the next nine points capped by Miller's trey that put her team in front.

But when Kim Deming missed a free throw while attempting to complete a three-point play, Haley Elders put back the miss to put Herrin back up 32-28. The lead was just three at 33-30 entering the fourth quarter, but Pinckneyville was outscored 14-2 in the period.

Elders finished with nine points and eight rebounds, while freshman Abby Horn had 16 rebounds. Deming had seven points and Hall six for the Lady Tigers.

Pinckneyville was led by Miller's 15 points. No other player had more than six.

"I was very proud of how we competed the final day of the tournament," Lady Panthers coach Alan Engelhardt said. "In both games we faced halftime deficits. Against Cobden, we really turned up the pressure in the second half and turned our tough defense into points."

In the morning session Pinckneyville knocked off Cobden 51-37 to stay alive for a shot at the title despite Tuesday's loss to Vienna.

Miller had 22 points with Dani Jenkel adding 11 and Taylor Cicardi 10.

Vienna ultimately took second place and pushed Pinckneyville to third by virtue of a last-second win over the Lady Appleknockers.

Named to the all-tournament team along with Ridings, Elders and Miller were Vienna's Emily Horn and Hannah McGinnis, Johnston City's Marissa Montgomery and Carley Bunting, Pinckneyville's Maddy Keith, Carterville's Kelsea Ashton and Cobden's Taylor Orsburn and Ana Duda.

Pinckneyville plays host to Carlyle (Tuesday) and Murphysboro (Thursday).

-Jeff Profitt contributed