In a battle between private and public schools in Yazoo County on the hard court on Friday night, it was the latter in the Yazoo County Lady Panthers that took a victory by a score of 54-40.
The non-conference contest was one that Yazoo County head coach Patrick Nutter has wanted to see for years now.
“This is something we’ve been wanting to do for some time now,” Nutter said. “I think it went really well. It was a well-played game on both sides, and it was good to come away with a win.”
The Lady Panthers went on the assault early on in the game, outscoring Emily Poe’s Lady Panthers 16-10 in the first quarter of play.
In the second quarter of action, the Lady Panthers played stifling defense and went on to outscore Manchester 12-4 to bring the score to 28-14 at the half.
The Lady Mavericks struck back in a big way in the third quarter, finally getting the upper hand with a 14-12 quarter to cut Yazoo County’s lead to 40-28.
Manchester’s comeback fell short in the fourth quarter when they were outscored 14-12 by Yazoo County to bring the final score to 54-40.
Despite the fact that this is Nutter’s final year as the Lady Panthers’ coach, he still wants to see the teams come together for friendly competition.
“I had several people from the stands come out and tell me how much they enjoyed it,” Nutter said. “Even though I’m retiring after this year, I would love to see this become an annual thing. We thought it would be good for the community, and from talking to people on both sides, I’d say it was a success.”
Ke’Anna Norwood led the Lady Panthers with 17 points in the non-conference match-up.
Destiny Epps was right behind Norwood with 12 points of her own in the win.
Aquasia Edwards rounded things out with 11 points.
The Lady Panthers followed up their win with a 58-31 loss to Ridgeland that was closer than it seemed.
With a number of opportunities at the line, Yazoo County could only convert 10-of-34 attempts, leaving 20+ points on free throws alone.
After the disappointing loss to Ridgeland, the Lady Panthers came back and took a 47-26 win over Riverside.
In the first half, the Lady Panthers jumped out to a 22-14 lead, and in the second half, they extended it by outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 25-12 to make the final score 47-26.
Aquasia Edwards and Jordan Scott led the total team effort with nine points each in the win.
Ke’Anna Norwood and Chloe Edwards were each able to provide six points to the winning effort.
Akeriunna Frierson rounded out the top five with six points.
Yazoo County’s Lady Panthers are 9-4 heading into the break, but Nutter is still not happy with how they have progressed as a team.
“We’re still struggling,” Nutter said. “We’re winning games, but we still haven’t found our identity. We won our first district game, so that’s a positive, but we’re just not consistent at all. I’m confused by it. I guess we’ll come back from the break and hopefully get better.”
The Lady Panthers will return to action on January 5 when they travel to face Ruleville Central.
Tip-off for the game will be at 5 p.m.
