The Jackson County Lady Panthers didn’t have the New Year’s break they had hoped for, as they fell to Sequoyah and Creekview in tournament play at Pickens County.
The Lady Panthers now get ready to return to region play with the heart of their region season ahead of them. Friday they will play host to the Lady Blue Devils of Elbert County, who enters the game 1-3 in region play.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Sequoyah
The Lady Panthers started off their tournament against the Sequoyah Lady Chiefs last Tuesday. Sequoyah took control early, with Jackson County having to play catch up. The Lady Panthers managed to cut the lead to 24-17 at the half, but in the second half, the Lady Chiefs again pulled out. At the end, it was Sequoyah taking a 60-36 victory.
Ashley Skelton and Ashley Lance scored 10 points each to lead Jackson County in scoring.
“I was just very frustrated with the effort as a whole from that game,” said coach Chad Pittman. “We didn’t play with a lot of intensity. We didn’t get after it like we needed to on either end of the floor. I was very frustrated in how we responded.
“They’re a good team, kind of a good way to measure yourself at this point in the season. I felt like we just came out flat and didn’t do much of anything.”
Creekview
Up next was a pairing with the Lady Grizzlies of Creekview on Wednesday.
“We discussed before we went up there and talked a whole lot about energy and intensity and those kind of things, so I felt a whole lot better about how hard we played,” Pittman said. “It was just one of those days where we didn’t shoot the ball great and we had too many turnovers.”
Creekview came away with the victory, 44-36.
“I felt like our intensity was really good to hold them to 44,” Pittman said. “I felt like the defense was pretty good overall, but we had too many turnovers and we missed too many easy baskets. We missed too many lay-up opportunities and we were 6-15 from the free throw line. We had opportunities, we just didn’t capitalize on them.”
Ashley Skelton led Jackson County in scoring with 13 points. Bree Drew scored nine.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.
