by Rusty Ellis
The Pickett County Lady Bobcats got off to a slow start in Tuesday’s tilt with Stone Memorial, but the Lady Bobcats got big games from Zoey Nicholas and Emmy Lowe en route to a 69-65 overtime victory over the Lady Panthers.
It was all Lady Panthers early, as a 7-0 run to open the game forced PCHS head coach Brent Smith to burn an early timeout. The run continued from there as Stone built the lead to double-digits, but a Callie Reeder three pulled the Lady Bobcats with two at 19-17 at the end of the first quarter.
Kaylee Tompkins gave Pickett their first lead in the second quarter with a fast-break layup, and Pickett County took a one-point lead into the half after Tompkins added a three-point play right before halftime.
The two teams battled back-and-forth in the third quarter, with neither team really able to expand on their lead. Another Reeder basket near the end of the frame gave Pickett a 47-44 lead heading into the fourth.
It remained a one-possession game for the remainder of regulation, as Adison Howard’s three with 12.3 seconds remaining knotted the score at 59-59, forcing an overtime period.
There, Zoey Nicholas took over and buried two three-pointers in the extra quarter, leader Pickett County to a gritty 69-65 victory over Stone Memorial.
Nicholas led the way with 25 points, while Emmy Lowe added 20 of her own. Reeder scored 13 points as well.
Kortney Headrick paced the Lady Panthers with 20 points.
For Smith, he says the start was obviously less than ideal, but he liked that his team battled back and wound up winning the match.
“We had an emotional win on Saturday, so I was worried that we might come out a little sluggish tonight,” Smith said. “They jumped on us early, and built a double-digit lead, but we were resilient and found a way to get back into the game.”
Still really early in the season, Smith says that while there are still some things to clean up, he likes that he’s getting contributions from everyone on the team.
“We’ve had some players step up, especially off the bench for us,” Smith said. “We just found a way to win, it wasn’t our prettiest win, but we fought off a good team…we’ve got a lot of things to work on, we need to get better defensively. I think we’ve made a lot of leaps and bounds from the start of the season to now.”
In the boys game, it was another dominant performance from Cade Capps that saw the junior score 30 points in a 60-54 win over the Bobcats.
The three-point shot was working early for the Panthers, as Preston Mayberry knocked down a pair of shots from long-distance to help Stone build a 14-5 lead. It was short-lived however, as Pickett would cut that deficit down to just 16-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The Bobcats cut further into that lead, using some intense defensive pressure in Stone’s half-court sets to force multiple turnovers. This allowed them to trim the deficit down to just 28-24 at the half.
Pickett County appeared to come out with all the momentum, tying the score at 28, but Stone answered right back with a 14-4 run to close the quarter, highlighted by multiple midrange jumpers from Capps.
That added up to a 44-32 lead at the end of the third, and while Gage Harris and Jacob Amonett each hit tough threes to pull within two possessions, it wouldn’t be enough as Stone Memorial closed out the 60-54 win over the Pickett County Bobcats.
Capps finished with a game-high 30 points, while Brady Lane added 12 of his own. Harris led Pickett County with 16 points.
For head coach Neil Capps, scheduling a game like this early in the season is something he always prioritizes because Pickett’s gym is such a tough one to play in.
“I told them when you come up here, there’s a pedigree of basketball up here,” Capps said. “Coach (Joseph) Amonett is one of the best coaches in the Upper Cumberland, he gets his kids to compete at the highest level…it’s a great environment. It’s going to make us better playing in an environment like this with the mistakes we made and fought through.”
The 14-4 run in the third to push the lead back to double-digits featured excellent execution offensively by the Panthers, though it all started at the defensive end for Capps.
“When we were able to get some stops, they didn’t have time to set up their traps,” Capps said. “We were able to get to the rim and get the looks we wanted…we were able to push in transition and get good looks at the rim and we made our free throws.”
One thing Capps said his team could do better moving forward is handling the pressure they see in the half-court sets. He felt they handled the full-court press well, but struggled once they got into half-court.
“I’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t been in this position, and this is a great place to figure out things like that,” Capps said. “They survived it and will learn from it, so we’ve just got to fix our mistakes and keep getting better.”
Stone Memorial will head to Jamestown to take on York Institute on Friday, while Pickett County will battle Cumberland County in Crossville.
