by Rusty Ellis
MURFREESBORO – The Pickett County Lady Bobcats won their first State Tournament game since 1989, as PCHS routed Cloudland 54-31 behind Emmy Lowe’s game-high 23 points.
A battle early, Pickett County held just a 12-9 lead at the start of the second quarter, powered by six first-quarter points from Lowe. The second is where the Lady Bobcats started creating separation, as head coach Brent Smith says the conditioning ended up being the difference-maker in the second frame.
“I think we were in better shape than anybody we play,” Smith said. “They hung around for a little bit and made some shots, but offensively, we just stepped up and got back to the game-plan…we just kept them out of the things they wanted to do, as far as we could tell on film, and it worked.”
This allowed Pickett to outscore Cloudland 21-10 in the quarter and take a 33-19 advantage into halftime.
The third quarter saw the Lady Bobcats expand the lead further, as a Zoey Nicholas bucket with 1:28 to go in the quarter gave Pickett a 47-21 lead to start the fourth, and they cruised to the 23-point victory from there.
For Nicholas, it’s a much different feeling compared to a season ago when the Lady Bobcats saw their season come to an end against Hampton.
“Oh it’s a great feeling,” Nicholas said. “After getting the experience last year and coming back this year, we felt that feeling last year and we were going to do whatever it took to not (let that happen again).”
Lowe scored nine of her game-high 23 points in the second quarter, and she says she noticed how tight the CHS defenders were guarding her early. This allowed her to use her quick first-step to attack the basket and score at will.
“They had a lot of gaps in their defense,” Lowe said. “Starting up so tight, it allowed me to get to the rim more. When they sagged off, I was able to kick it out more.”
Pickett County will now advance to take on the winner of Wayne County/South Fulton at 2:15 P.M. on Friday, and in assessing what his team could’ve done better, Smith says they’ll need to limit second-chance opportunities if they want to keep their season going.
“We gave up seven second-chance points in the first half,” Smith said. “That was a big-time negative, they had 19 points and seven of them were second-chance points…that’s something we’ve really concentrated on, so that’s a negative because it’s something that’s highlighted the second-half of the season for us. We’ve done a really good job of that, until today.”
