With a 45-31 win over Rock Hill on February 15, the Peebles Lady Indians earned a berth in the Southeast District Division III district tournament. (Photo provided)
45-31 win over Rock Hill sends Peebles to districts
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After dropping their final two regular season contests, the Peebles Lady Indians returned to action on February 15, this time on the hardwood at Portsmouth High School. Coach Sidney Pell and her squad faced off with the Rock Hill Lady Redmen in a Division III sectional championship game, the winner earning a trip to the district semi-finals.
For two quarters, it looked as if the late season mini-slump for the Lady Indians might continue as the Lady Redmen haled a four-point halftime lead, but the final 16 minutes was all Peebles as the Lady Indians rallied to knock off Rock Hill by a final score of 45-31, thereby punching their ticket to the Division III district tournament.
“After the two losses to end the regular season, we kept that same energy in the first half,” explained Coach Pell. “I really had to question our competitiveness and effort in the locker room at halftime. But our girls responded well, we came out in the third quarter and played extremely hard and got ourselves back in the game quickly, especially on defense. “
“Props to Rock Hill, though. They had a great game plan and played really hard. We all were on the same page after the game that we have to play better from her on out or we will be going home earlier than we’d like.”
In last Thursday’s match up, the Lady Indians took an early 4-2 lead on two jumpers from the elbow by Lydia Maddox, but Rock Hill bounced back to take a 10-6 advantage. A bucket in transition late in the opening period by Angel Gray brought Peebles to within 10-8 after one.
After Rock Hill’s Emma Scott scored on the first Lady Redmen possession of the second frame. the Lady Indians rallied to take their first lead of the night, getting seven consecutive points from senior guard Payton Johnson. Rock Hill tied the game at 15 on a three-pointer from Abby Schug, but Peebles took the lead right back on a score from MaRhea Unger.The Lady Redmen got a basket “and one” from Hope Easterling, followed by two Caydence Carroll free throws for the Tribe, but Rock Hill finished the first half on a 6-0 run. A three-point goal by Scott and another three-point play from Easterling with just 1.6 seconds left send the Redmen to the locker room with a 24-19 advantage.
Whatever was discussed by Coach Pell and her team must have been just the right chat as the Lady Indians came out of the locker room and totally dominated the third quarter and tonally turned the momentum of the game in their favor. The Peebles defense allowed Rock Hill just a single basket in the third period, while scoring 17 of their own, The Peebles explosion included a putback by Maddox that resulted in a three-point play and a jumper by Gray that gave her team the lead for good at 28-26. Six consecutive free throws by Johnson and another bucket from Gray gave the Lady Indians control of the game and a double digit lead at 36-26 as the third quarter ended.
The Lady Redmen weren’t going down easy as they began the final quarter with a 5-2 spurt to pull within 38-31 but that was it for their offense. Peebles ended the game on a 7-0 run, beginning with a jumper from Carroll, followed by two Johnson free throws and a Johnson bucket in transition. A late free throw by Maddox closed out the scoring as the Lady Indians, in not a perfect effort but a winning effort, rode the 14-point win into the district tournament.
Payton Johnson led the Lady Indians and all scorers with 21 points, while the Lady Indians got solid efforts from Lydia Maddox and Caydence Carroll with 8 points apiece, with Angel Gray adding 6. The Peebles defense only allowed 7 second half points as they came from behind for the “W”.
Rock Hill was led by 12 points each from Emma Scott and Hope Easterling.
The 19-4 Lady Indians now get a week of practice before their district semi-final game on Saturday, February 24. Peebles will travel to the friendly confines of the Waverly Downtown Gym for an 11 a.m. match up with South Point with a trip to the Division III district championship game at stake.
Rock Hill
10 14 2 5 —31
Peebles
8 11 17 9 —45
Rock Hill (31)- Scott 12, Easterling 12, Schug 4, Risner 3
Peebles (45)-Johnson 21, Maddox 8, Carroll 8, Gray 6, Unger 2
