EWING, Va. — The Cumberland Gap Lady Panthers improved to 4-1 on the season with a 59-47 win at Thomas Walker, Va., Thursday.
Senior guard Kelsey Dean led CGHS with 15 points, Chelsea Graves added 10 and Mackenzie McFall scored 9 off the bench for the Lady Panthers.
Thomas Walker stayed close thanks to 22 points from junior center Tiffany Gibson. Jessica Burke finished with nine for the Lady Pioneers.
“We had our moments, but we’re still a young team,” said new Cumberland coach Tracy Brooks. “We have four seniors, but only one with significant varsity experience. We made some young mistakes, but they played hard. It was a good win.”
Gibson put Thomas Walker on top with a quick basket, but Dean had a pair of steals and scored five points as the Lady Panthers went up 7-2 with 5:18 to play in the first. They led it 13-7 after one and stayed comfortably in front the rest of the way.
A pair of free throws by Courtney Williams and a long 2-pointer from Brittany Bishop pushed the Cumberland Gap lead to 22-12 with one minute lef to play in the second quarter and they led at the half 23-15.
“We struggled shooting a little bit tonight. I know at halftime we had missed 20 shots in the paint and you can add that to however many we missed in the second half,” said Brooks. “We had good shots, they just weren’t falling. Hopefully that’s something we can correct.”
Dean and Jonna Adkins both converted steals into layups early in the third to stretch the lead to 30-16. But every time the Lady Panthers threatened to turn the game into a rout, Thomas Walker answered.
Gibson scored inside and a putback by Burke got the Lady Pioneers to within ten, 41-31 with 1:20 to go in the third.
But was as close as the game would get. Courtney Crowder scored six of her seven points in the fourth quarter and Cumberland Gap held on for the 59-47 win.
The Lady Panthers didn’t have an answer for Gibson in the low post, but they were able to force turnovers and got a lot of rebounds from their guards for second and third shot opportunities.
“We’re not that big, but we had good rebounding from our guards and Crowder did a good job blocking out,” said Brooks. “That’s something we need to get better at, but like I said we’re young and we have a lot to work on but it’s early.”
Brooks was promoted to head coach of the Lady Panthers back in the summer after working as an assistant under Ron Vannoy, who remains at Cumberalnd Gap as athletic director.
“I’m truly honored to have this job. I have a great group of girls — they work really hard in practice and they leave it all out on the floor,” said Brooks. “They’re friends, not jut teammates.”
She said the team’s goals are to improve on last year’s 13-13 record and move up in the district standings.
“We were next to last in the district last year so I definitely want to improve on that,” said Brooks. “I want them to learn something new every game and get better at it and show me next time they’ve improved. By the end of the year I want us to be a solid team.”
The Lady Panthers are at Oneida Monday and host Scott on Tuesday.
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Cumberland Gap 13 10 20 16 — 59
Thomas Walker 7 8 16 16 — 47
CUMBERLAND GAP: Kelsey Dean 15, Chelsea Graves 10, Mackenzie McFall 9, Courtney Crowder 7, Jonna Adkins 5, Courtney Williams 5, Brittany Bishop 4, Emily Ellison 4, Kayla Cosby 0, DonAnna Grabeel 0, Kayla Lewis 0.
THOMAS WALKER: Tiffany Gibson 22, Jessica Burke 9, Jennifer Brockman 4, Jennifer Burke 3, Caitlin Hurst 3, Courtney Moles 2, Katrina Isaacs 2, Gabby Brooks 2, Brandy Vass 0, Lauren Warf 0.
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