CORBIN —The Lady Mountain Lions found themselves in a dogfight in Thursday’s opening game of the 17th annual Bowman Memorial Classic at Lynn Camp. Jellico held a four-point lead until Pineville opened the fourth quarter with a 12-2 run and held on for a 50-48 win.
“We got a couple of starters in early foul trouble and it hurt us. That’s part of being a young team and we battled back and I’m proud of them,” said Lady Lion coach Matt Shafer. “We’ve tried to battle back a couple of times this year and were never able to get over the hump, but it worked today.”
The Lady Blue Devils rallied to get the lead back on a 3-pointer from Brittany Kennedy with 3:30 to play. Jellico also led 48-46 after a basket from Destany Creekmore with 2:52 on the clock.
Stacey Washington, who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds, scored on a putback to tie the game at the 2:30 mark. Devin Enix, who led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, went 1-for-2 from line on two separate occasions to give Pineville a 50-48 lead with 1:10 to play.
Creekmore led the Lady Devils with 14 points and her shot to tie the game with 30 seconds to go came up just short and Washington pulled down the rebound. Jellico never got the ball back despite four different Lady Lions combining to miss eight free throws over the final 16 seconds.
“We’ve got to win the close ones. You’ve got to find a way to win and we did. Some things weren’t going our way there at the end, but we hung in there and got some offensive rebounds and won by effort,” Shafer said. “We didn’t have a great offensive game and not really a great defensive game, but our effort and hustle was there.”
Pineville looked to be in control early on as Washington scored four quick points, Annalee Adams hit a pair of free throws and Erica Gambrell and Enix also made shots. A 3-pointer from Enix pushed the Lady Lion lead to 13-6 late in the first quarter.
Washington and Adams both picked up two early fouls and Jellico pressed their advantage inside. Creekmore scored six of her points in the first period and the lead was down to 13-10 going into the second.
Kennedy hit a long two-pointer and then a 3 to tie the game at 17 by the midway point of the second quarter. A Creekmore putback gave the Lady Devils their first lead and Kennedy followed with another 3-pointer to make it 22-17 with 3:17 left in the half.
Baskets by Rachel Ayers and Courtney Charles gave Jellico their biggest lead of the game at 26-18.
“They were big and they hurts with offensive rebounds, especially early in the game.” Shafer said.
Pineville closed the half with two free throws by Enix and one from Emily Mullins and the score was 26-21 at halftime.
The Lady Lions turned up their defensive intensity in the third quarter to quickly get back in the game. They forced six turnovers in the first four minutes of the second half, Enix scored six points and Adams two as Pineville opened up a 29-26 lead.
Jellico answered with a 3-pointer from Brittany Vaughn to tie things up and baskets from Creekmore and Taylor put them up by four and the score was 37-33 going into the fourth.
Washington scored a pair of baskets after grabbing offensive rebounds to tie the game by the 6:30 mark. Rachel Barnes drove the baseline for two to put the Lady Lions back on top and Adams and Enix both hit 3-pointers around a pair of free throws by Creekmore and Pineville’s lead was 45-39 with just over 5:00 to play.
It was back-and-forth down the stretch, but the Lady Lions did just enough to pull out the two-point win.
A big key to the comeback was the Pineville press helping to force the Lady Devils into 14 second half turnovers.
“Our pressing ability creates turnovers and we had three girls with close to five steals. It’s just a testament to how hard they play,” Shafer added.
Both teams will continue playing in the tournament, which runs through next week. Pineville (5-3) takes on Barbourville Saturday at 2 p.m., Williamsburg on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and host Lynn Camp next Thursday at 7 p.m. Jellico (1-8) plays Lynn Camp Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and Williamsburg on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
— — —
Jellico……10…16…11…11 — 48
Pineville…13….8…12…17 — 50
JELLICO (48): Destany Creekmore 14, Brittany Kennedy 11, Rachel Ayers 8, Natasha Taylor 6, Courtney Charles 6, Brittany Vaughn 3, Olivia Veach 0, Katie Cox 0.
PINEVILLE (50): Devin Enix 22, Stacey Washington 10, Annalee Adams 9, Erica Gambrell 4, Emily Mullins 3, Rachel Barnes 2, Tiffany Sutton 0, Jillian Enix 0.
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