The Road to Normal: Lady Panthers Bound for Sectional
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ For the second time in school history-and for the second time in as many seasons-Pinckneyville Community High School's Girls Basketball team is Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 2A Regional champion.
Thursday night in Max Morris Gym, the Lady Panthers surpised host and top seeded West Frankfort 50-45. Now 21-8, Pinckneyville advances to next week's Sparta Sectional Tournament. At 6 p.m., they'll face the champion of the Columbia Regional. Sparta and Freeburg decide that title Friday.
"It was nice to see the girls get rewarded for their hard work by getting our second regional in a row," PCHS coach Alan Engelhardt said. "Hopefully we can keep our momentum going Monday. This was a complete team effort."
In a back-and-forth affair, Pinckneyville forged ahead for good on back-to-back three-point hoops by Becky Vanderjack. Ahead 31-28 after the Vanderjack bombs, PCHS never trailed. The margin reached five points as the third quarter ended, 35-30. Pinckneyville scored 10 straight times during the flurry.
West Frankfort (20-6) refused to give in and sliced the margin down to just two midway through the final frame. Taylor Cicardi answered Frankfort's run with another long three and the hosts couldn't get any closer than four the rest of the way.
Jenkel and Emily Miller were huge for PCHS down the stretch, scoring 12 of Pinckneyville's 15 final quarter points. The only other basket was Cicardi's three.
"Our press wore them down and set the tempo for the game," Engelhardt said. "The press helped eliminate their big size advantage inside. This was an extremely physical game on both sides. I was very happy with how we kept our composure and battled. This was a game of big plays for us."
Jenkel's 13 points paced the Lady Panthers. Miller added 10, Vanderjack nine and Cicardi seven.
Gina Jones had 17 for West Frankfort.
Three-Point Showdown Advancers
Sophomore Shaylyn Little of Du Quoin is sectional tournament bound after placing among the top four in Thursday's finals.
Lauren Mitchell (ZRC), Melinda Miller (Benton ) and Jami Gahn of West Frankfort also qualified. Du Quoin freshman Jessica Hirsch just missed, finishing fifth.
<element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[