By JED LOCKETT
GARDNER — PikeView did not disappoint the pollsters. On a night in which the girls’ team was ranked ninth in the AP poll and tied for eighth in the coaches poll, the Panthers turned back the upset-minded Tigers from Shady Spring, 70-54.
It wasn’t an easy proposition in the first quarter, after which Shady Spring held a one-point lead. The Panthers limited their visitors to six points in the next eight minutes of play and held a 27-20 advantage at intermission.
As the game played out, PikeView forced Shady Spring into 28 turnovers, many of which were turned into baskets by the Panthers.
“On defense, that’s what we want to do, is force turnovers and get some layups and things and that gets you going,” PikeView head coach Karen Miller said. “And we hope that we can continue to force that many turnovers against whomever it might be.”
“I thought some of them could have gone our way with a few fouls being called,” Shady Spring head coach John Davis said. “I don’t think the entire 28 were legit turnovers, but, yeah, we did have a high number of turnovers.”
Laken Coburn led PVHS in scoring with 19 points and added four assists to guide the Panthers to victory.
“Laken, she contributes every game some way — scoring or assists or whatever — and she does a lot of things,” Miller explained. “For your point guard to lead in points, you know, that’s great.”
Samantha Thomas notched a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and her sister Trista overcame early foul trouble to notch eight points and seven boards. Krystal Davis contributed 11 points for PikeView.
Emily Daniel had an impressive night for Shady Spring with 34 points.
“Emily’s the catalyst of the ball club. She’s a leader and she does a good job,” Davis noted. “She fights, you know. If they’re playing a man, box-and-one, or triangle-and-two, she still fights to rub off screens and get open.”
The 6-6 Tigers play James Monroe tonight. Davis hopes his team’s second-half hustle will carry over to their matchup with the Mavericks.
“The last part of that half where they gutted it out and they played good, strong defense and they went for loose balls and they wanted the basketball, hopefully they can continue with that and I think if they do that then we should have a good night tomorrow night and the rest of the season should be fine,” Davis noted.
The 12-3 Panthers travel to Wyoming East on Thursday. Miller knows that now is the time for her Panthers to put up or shut up.
“It doesn’t really matter who it is now,” Miller admitted. “Whoever we play, they’re going to be coming after us and we’ve got to be ready and prepared.”
SHADY SPRING (n.a.)
Emily Daniel 34, Lydia Honaker 12, Hillary Smith 2, Jennifer Tilley 6.
PIKEVIEW (12-3)
Laken Coburn 19, Rachel Weatherly 7, Krystal Davis 11, Leah Cook 5, Gabby Begovich 7, Samantha Thomas 13, Trista Thomas 8.
Shady Spring...........14 6 17 17 — 54
PikeView..................13 14 20 23 — 70
Three-point goals – Shady Spring, none; PikeView 4 (Coburn 1, Davis 1, Cook 1, Begovich 1). JV game – PikeView 77-18.
