Lady Panthers break into the region win column

It was an up and down week for the Lady Panthers of Jackson County, as they recorded their first region win of the season, but dropped two other games on the week.

Jackson County will look to start a drive to end their region schedule on an upturn this week, as they travel to Morgan County on Friday to face the Lady Bulldogs in Madison.

Morgan County entered play on Tuesday with a 2-5 region record, and 6-7 overall. The Lady Bulldogs were victorious in their most recent meeting with Jackson County, winning 43-26 back in December.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Last week started off with a home stand against the Lady Bulldogs of Hart County.

The Lady Panthers came out of the gate fighting hard, and found themselves tied 7-7 at the end of the first quarter, then moved ahead 24-17 going into the half.

But then in the third quarter, the game seemed to slip away from Jackson County. After a few turnovers, the Lady Bulldogs responded by scoring 16 points to the Lady Panthers’ three, with those points coming from the free throw line as Jackson County suffered a field goal drought.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers began to fight back, cutting the lead as close as ten late in the fourth quarter, and even had a chance to get back into single digits before missing a couple of shots. But the hole that had been dug a quarter before proved to be too big, and Hart County came away with a 52-39 victory.

Ashley Skelton and Breanna Drew both scored 16 points on the night to lead the team, while Jessica Stevens had 10 rebounds, three steals and two charges.

“We dug ourselves a significant hole,” said coach Chad Pittman. “I was proud of the fact that we never gave up and never quit. We had a strong fourth quarter so we ended the game well, but we just dug ourselves too big of a hole.”

Up next, the Lady Panthers played host to Eastside, a team that came to town off of a 60-51 loss to Stephens County earlier in the week.

The Lady Panthers started off the game on a roll, moving out to a 13-10 lead by the end of the first quarter. But the Lady Eagles responded with a little pressure in the second, and made a run that put Jackson County down 22-15.

The Lady Panthers responded, as Drew completed a three-point play just before the half to bring Jackson County back to within two points, 22-20.

In the second half, the Lady Panthers had 27 defensive rebounds, and down the stretch, they limited the Lady Eagles to only one shot. In the end, the Lady Panthers picked up their first region win, 36-30.

Drew led in scoring for Jackson County with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Skelton had 10 points. Stevens had 14 rebounds on the game.

“In that game, we played really well, and got off to a good start,” Pittman said. “I’m pleased to see we’re coming out of the gate strong, but we’ve got to continue to play well for 32 minutes. But we’re getting off to a good start typically, on most nights.

“In the second half, I thought we did real good job defensively. For the game, we had 27 defensive rebounds, which is probably a season high for us. In our league, with the teams we’re playing, that’s been an Achilles heel for us. I was super proud of that effort on the boards. We executed real well and got the shots we wanted, and managed the game very well.”

The Lady Panthers hoped to carry that momentum from Friday night over to Saturday, when they played host to Banks County.

The Lady Leopards had faced Jackson County two previous times this season, and had lost both times. They were looking to stop that streak.

That came to pass, as Banks County played hard and played well, while the Lady Panthers struggled with their shooting, going 14-49 from the floor. Banks County went on to win 45-37.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.