The Jackson County Lady Panthers started their basketball season out on a high note Thursday night, as they defeated the Lady Spartans of West Hall 47-30 in their season opener.
The Lady Panthers’ next regular season game is scheduled for Dec. 2, when they’ll travel to Johnson to face the Lady Knights. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
West Hall
The Lady Panthers took control of the West Hall game early on, and held the Lady Spartans at bay to pick up their first win of the season, and their first win over West Hall since December of 2005.
Ashley Skelton led Jackson County in scoring with 22 points, while Breanna Drew scored 11.
The two also combined to go 12-12 from the free throw line on the night.
“I was real pleased with how (the team) played,” said coach Chad Pittman. “I thought I could see some growth from last year to this year already, just in how we handled ourselves, our composure, and our poise in the game.
“We played smart, made good decisions, things like that.”
The Lady Panthers had only 12 turnovers against West Hall.
“In the scheme of things, that isn’t a big number,” Pittman said. “Going in we put a lot of focus on rebounding. We rebounded very well, limited them to just a few offensive rebounds, and I was very pleased with that.
Overall, I think we graded out fairly well.”
Tournament Time
The Lady Panthers were next scheduled to start tournament play Monday night at home against Tallulah Falls. Results were unavailable at press time.
Pittman says his team will try to come out, play hard, execute and be fundamentally sound as they work through tournament play this week, and continue to prepare for the season.
“Our guards need to play well and handle the ball well,” he said. “Hopefully we can get some experience this week in the tournament, and get some more people some more playing time. Thursday night, we really relied on six people, and early on I need to be able to play more people to get them some experience.
“We’re going to have to have more than six down the stretch.”
