Girls basketball Pinckneyville takes two of its last three games
The Lady Panthers improved their record to 4-7 this last week, taking games over Anna-Jonesboro and Cairo, and losing only to Nashville.
<b>Pinckneyville 48, Anna-Jonesboro, 35</b>
Coach Alan Engelhardt said the team set the tone in the first half, with the stingy defense.
"We did a pretty good job of communicating and getting switches made, so they really didn't get much easy," he said.
"Offensively, Moe got us going against the zone, hitting three 3's in the first quarter before they started guarding us (man-to-man). We just have to keep working on our execution to make the game easier for us down the stretch."
Engelhardt said the Panthers had opportunities to put A-J away, "but just couldn't string together enough offensive possessions to grow our lead.
Still, "I thought down the stretch we did a nice job of protecting the ball, breaking the press, and hitting 9 of 12 free throws to seal the deal."
<i>Game stats</i>
Anna-Jonesboro 07 06 09 13 35
Pinckneyville 18 08 09 13 48
Anna-Jonesboro scoring: Sadler 4 0-2 10; B. Denny 2 0-0 4; A. Denny 5 0-2 10; M. Smith 2 1-2 7; Harris 2 0-0 4.
Pinckneyville scoring: Morgenthaler 5 10-12 24; Wiggers 3 0-0 6; Ruppert 2 4-6 8; Baggett 1 0-0 2; Tanner 2 1-1 5; Harris 1 1-2 3.
<b>Nashville 30; Pinckneyville 20</b>
Despite the loss, Engelhardt said the team competed pretty hard and guarded well, especially in the second half. This really was a game of missed opportunities offensively.
"We had several fast-break opportunities that ended up empty possessions and we were only 5-15 from the line after having shot well there lately," the coach said.
"We just have to keep working on offensive decision-making and continue to show the improvement defensively that we have this week."
<i>Game stats</i>
Pinckneyville 07 06 06 01 20
Nashville 11 12 05 02 30
Pinckneyville scoring: Morgenthaler 0 2-6 2; Wiggers 1 0-0 2; Ruppert 0 1-4 1; Baggett 1 0-0 3; Tanner 3 2-5 8; Pyatt 2 0-0 4.
Nashville scoring: Rueter 1 0-0 2; Kozuszek 3 0-0 7; Schnitker 1 0-0 3; Kollbaum 1 0-0 2; Varel 1 1-2 3; Cole 5 2-3 13.
<b>Pinckneyville 79; Cairo 29</b>
Coach Alan Engelhardt: "We obviously got off to a great start today, getting out and running and playing inside-out against their zone. It was nice to see the girls sharing the basketball and having fun. We had seven girls with seven or more points, which is a fun way to play. I was especially happy to see Cheyanne Pauley add eight points because as a senior, she comes in and competes every day.
"Defensively, I didn't think we gave them much that was easy, with 18 of their points coming off of deep 3's, and we finished possessions on the backboard."
</i>Game stats</i>
Cairo 08 09 08 04 29
Pinckneyville 36 18 16 09 79
Cairo scoring: Wilkerson 5 2-2 15; Blake 1 1-4 3; Posey 4 0-0 11.
Pinckneyville scoring: Morgenthaler 2 2-4 6; Szczeblewski 3 0-2 7; Wiggers 5 0-0 13; Ruppert 4 0-1 8; Baggett 4 0-0 9; Heisner 0 2-2 2; Tanner 5 4-5 14; Harris 4 2-2 10; Pyatt 1 0-0 2; Pauley 4 0-1 8.
Next Game: Wednesday at Benton.