The Lady Panthers of Yazoo County ended last week with wins over Charleston and J.Z. George to improve to 4-3 in the district.
After adding the two wins to their record, they sat at 12-7 heading into the final stretch of games.
Yazoo County head basketball coach Patrick Nutter was happy to see his girls win key district games, even while admitting they weren’t at their best.
“These were good wins for us,” Nutter said. “We didn’t really play all that well on Thursday, but we got the win. I think those long trips kind of affected us a little bit. We got outhustled on Friday night, but we eventually picked it up. They were very important games, especially since Humphreys and Amanda Elzy lost on Friday night.”
On Thursday night, the Lady Panthers had a make-up game against Charleston, which Yazoo County won by a score of 52-39.
In the first quarter, the battle was a heated one.
The fight for a higher seeding in the district tournament brought out the best in each team, but the Lady Panthers outscored the Lady Tigers 13-11 to gain an early advantage.
That advantage carried over into the second quarter, where Yazoo County outscored Charleston 15-6, extending their lead to 28-17.
Charleston came out of halftime with a vengeance, unwilling to part with the opportunity for a win.
The Lady Tigers reversed the score of the second quarter, turning the tables with a 15-6 effort, cutting the lead to 34-32 with a quarter left to play.
With the momentum trending away from them, Nutter’s Lady Panthers stepped up and regained control of the game in the fourth quarter, outscoring he Lady Tigers 18-7 to seize the victory by a score of 52-39.
The Lady Panther hit 13-of-17 free throws (76%) in the victory.
Chloe Edwards led Yazoo County in scoring with 14 points (12 of which came from 3-pointers) in the win.
Senior Aquasia Edwards put up 12 points in the winning effort.
Akeriunna Frierson rounded out the top three in scoring with 11 points.
The Lady Panthers continued their winning ways the following night when they defeated J.Z. George 54-15.
Yazoo County jumped on J.Z. George early with a 12-4 quarter to kick things off.
In the second quarter, the Lady Panthers extended their lead dramatically with an 18-6 performance, making it a 30-10 game at the half.
Things took a turn for the worst in the third quarter for J.Z. George, where they Lady Panthers put up 17 points to their three, making it a 47-13 game with only a quarter remaining.
When the buzzer sounded the signify the end of the game, the Lady Panthers were victorious by a score of 54-15.
Ke’Anna Norwood was the leading scorer for the Lady Panthers with 13 points in the key district victory.
Chloe Edwards was right behind Norwood with 10 points in the win.
Destiny Epps was third on the team in scoring with nine points.
With a difficult slate of games on the horizon, the next week will determine where the Lady Panthers will be seeded in the district tournament.
Humphreys County, Ruleville Central, and Charleston are all on the slate for the Lady Panthers.
According to Nutter, the saving grace for his team is that all three games will be at home.
“If we can win our final three district games, we’ll be 7-3,” Nutter said. “That would be a pretty good spot. We could just as easily lose all three, so we’ll have to come out and play well in every game. The only advantage is that we have all of the rest of our regular season games at home. If we hold home court, we’ll be fine.”
Yazoo County has another important game on Friday night when they host Ruleville Central.
