After winning the district tournament and first round of the playoffs with relative ease, the triumphant season finally came to a close for the Yazoo County Lady Panthers in the second round of the playoff when they fell 44-39 to Belmont.
The Lady Panthers came out of the gates firing in the second round in front of a feisty Yazoo County crowd.
After a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Chloe Edwards, Yazoo County held an early 5-0 lead.
But Belmont scrapped and fought to tie it up at 8-8 by the end of the first quarter.
Belmont made a layup to start the second quarter, giving them a 10-8 lead, their first of the game, but the Lady Panthers nailed a 3-point attempt right after to regain an 11-10 lead
That back-and-forth effort just the type of game it was going to be. No team would take this game without a fight at every turn.
For every bucket by Yazoo County, the Lady Cardinals had an equalizer on deck.
With a tie game at 17-17 with mere seconds left to play, a Cardinal put up a shot from near the free throw line, only to see it bounce around before sinking through, giving Belmont a 19-17 lead at the half.
At the start of the second half, the Lady Panthers kick started things with a 3-pointer to regain a 20-19 lead.
But the Lady Cardinals struck fire. They went on an 13-4 run to give them a 32-24 lead by the end of the third quarter.
With a quarter left to play and a deficit to overcome, the Lady Panthers had to act quickly to try to keep their season alive.
Yazoo County hit a layup early, but a pair of free throws and a layup by Belmont extended their lead to 36-26.
A stroke of luck occurred when Yazoo County was fouled shooting a three and was able to make all three free throw attempts, cutting the lead to 36-29.
Belmont then put up two layups before the Lady Panthers scored a layup and hit a big 3-pointer to cut the lead to 40-34.
The Lady Panthers kept creeping up on the Lady Cardinals. When Belmont made another layup, Yazoo County hit five straight free throws to cut the lead to 42-39, a one-possession game with less than a minute to play.
With 0:36 remaining, the Lady Panthers took their shot, an open 3-point attempt, but it barely missed the mark, forcing them to foul.
Belmont made both free throws, icing the game and giving them a 44-39 win.
The Lady Panthers ended the season with a 20-8 record (9-2 in district) on the season.
