CORBIN — When several members of the team, including three starters, were hit with a stomach virus Monday the Pineville Lady Mountain Lions’ hopes of advancing in the 13th Region Tournament took a major hit.

Led by a pair of young post players, the North Laurel Lady Jaguars completely dashed those hopes by early in the second half and pulled away for a 73-46 opening round win at the Arena.

Junior guard Chelsey Smith, the top scorer in the state, junior forward Victoria Knuckles, Pineville’s second leading scorer, and freshman center Morgan Orr were all limited by the effects of the virus.

“I’m not trying to make excuses for our team but Chelsey had her head in the trash can before we left Pineville, Victoria threw up on the way up here on the bus and we had Morgan at the nurses station cramping up before the game,” said Lady Lion coach Russell Thompson. “I gave them the Michael Jordan speech. That he played some of his best ballgames with the flu and had 60 points. They tried to get through it, but you could just see it in their faces coming out. Two of them were questionable if they could even start but I had already written them in as starters.”

With an undersized lineup the Lady Lions rely on all-out effort, quickness and determination to pressure the ball on defense and create turnovers. It was evident from the start that those three ingredients were falling short of where they’ve been all season.

“We were definitely not quick and we got outworked,” Thompson said. “They battled and tried to come out there and do what they could.

“North Laurel’s too good of a team for you to not be going on all cylinders. With the way they executed and played compared to how we did it really just wasn’t our night.”

North’s Tamara Crawford grabbed the ball off the tip and went straight in for a layup to start the game. Knuckles hit a jumper to tie things up and would later add a free throw.

But Lady Jaguar freshman forward Cheyenne Madden passed to sophomore forward Ashley Woolum for one inside basket and added two more herself as North took an 8-3 lead by the 4:55 mark of the first quarter and Pineville played from behind the rest of the game.

Madden finished with 22 points, 9 rebounds and four assists to lead North Laurel while Woolum added 12 points and eight rebounds and Crawford 13. All three finished with four assists.

“Cheyenne has been hurting a lot of people here lately,” North Laurel coach Roy Bowling said. “We were able to get the ball inside and take advantage of their (lack of) size on defense.”

In spite of their illnesses and getting down early, the Lady Lions did their best to make a game of it in the first half.

Smith hit a 3-pointer after a steal by Whitney Partin to make it 8-6 and drove in for a basket that cut the North lead to 12-8 with 3:38 left in the first.

The Lady Jags were employing a box and one with a chaser on Smith. It slowed her down quite a bit but she was still able to finish with a game-high 23 points.

“You’re not going to keep an excellent shooter like her from scoring points,” Bowling said. “We just wanted to contain her a little bit and not let her have one of those 50 point nights.”

Partin found Lacey Brooks in the paint for a short jumper and senior Chatman Taylor scored on a putback at the 1:22 mark to get Pineville within 18-12.

Two baskets from Madden pushed the lead to ten but Taylor converted a three-point play to make the score 22-15 at the end of one.

Woolum and Rachel Seidel added baskets early in the second to push the North lead to 26-15.

“North Laurel did an excellent job of executing their game plan. With their box and chaser on Cheley and their length underneath it really kept us from being able to get to the basket,” Thompson said.

The Lady Lions were forced to shoot away from the outside. Smith was fouled on one attempt and hit three free throws to bring Pineville within eight and Rebekah Brooks came off the bench to hit a 3 with 3:12 remaining in the half that made the score 29-21.

After a Woolum free throw, Madden converted a three-point play after grabbing an offensive rebound and the lead was back to 12.

“I don’t want to take anything away from North Laurel. They absolutely executed great,” said Thompson. “ Madden was able to dominate on the glass and in the paint, we had no answer for her and then their guards were able to handle any kind of press that we threw at them.”

By halftime the Lady Jags were up 37-26 and they scored the first eight points of the third quarter to take a commanding 45-26 lead.

A pair of steals and layups by Smith cut it to 15 at the 4:50 mark of the third and Orr’s basket with 3:25 left in the period made it 47-32. But that was as close as they Lady Lions would get and North pulled away in the fourth win by 27.

“With the spacing and the floor being a little bit larger it took a little bit away from what we were able to do with our pressure,” Thompson said. “They handled it well and we couldn’t turn them over. We also couldn’t rebound the basketball well and when those two things happen we’re going to struggle.

“This wasn’t representative of how our team plays. We haven’t been blown out all year and to have it happen here at the region, it’s discouraging for them.”

North Laurel (20-8) was coming off an overtime 50-49 loss to defending 13th Region champ and this season favorite Clay County in the 49th District championship game. They’ll play Harlan County in the semifinals Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Pineville ends their season with a record of 12-17.

“We played the toughest schedule in Pineville’s history, especially in girls play. I don’t think anybody expected us to get to ten wins and we got to 12 and won back-to-back district championships,” Thompson said. “Tonight is not a reflection of what we’ve accomplished this season and how hard our girls have worked because they really have. They’re deserving of a lot of credit for what they put themselves through and what they were able to accomplish.

“We had a shot of bad luck and we’ll just take it as a learning lesson and try to move forward for next year. We lose one girl (Taylor) and I know that the six seniors we’ll have next year won’t want to go out like this.”