BASKETBALL: Lady Panthers fall to Z-R in opener at Ham-Co Tourney

Zeigler-Royalton took advantage of a dismal performance at the free throw line by the Lady Panthers, who made just 4-of-16 at the stripe, as the Tornadoes slipped past Pinckneyville 37-34 at the Hamilton County Tournament on Monday night.

PCHS was able to close the gap a bit after trailing by seven entering the fourth quarter, but missed three short-range buckets and six free throws in the final two minutes of the ball game.

"We didn't do very much right from start to finish," said Pinckneyville head coach Alan Engelhardt. "When you get out hustled for loose balls, out-rebounded, miss more layups, make 4-of-16 free throws, and turn the ball over more than 20 times, you aren't going to win many games. Defensively, we weren't bad, getting deflections and forcing misses, but we didn't capitalize on either because ZRC got most of the loose balls and put back several second chance opportunities."

Keelyn Stein led the Lady Panthers with ten points, Caitlyn Anderson added eight, Taylor Smith six, Sophie Keith four, and Taylor Griffin, Kearsten Opp and Raygan Yates each had two.

"We have a lot of work to do going forward," said Engelhardt. "I thought our one bright spot was Taylor Smith played the best game of her high school career, defending their best player pretty well and chipping in six points."

Pinckneyville (0-1) takes on Wayne City at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Ham-Co Tournament.