FALMOUTH — After holding a one-point lead in the early stages of the second quarter, the lid came over the basket for the Augusta girls’ basketball team.
Turnovers didn’t help either.
The Lady Panthers fell to Pendleton County, 61-44 on a night where they struggled to score for three quarters and committed 26 turnovers, dropping to 1-5 on the season.
“We didn’t execute real well on offense, tried to slow it down a bit and have good possessions, but I thought we shot some quick shots there at time and they just weren’t falling. When the shots don’t fall, basketball has to be a game where you slow it down and get better shots,” Lady Panthers coach Robin Kelsch said.
After trailing 12-11 upon the first eight minutes of play, the Lady Panthers were able to gain a 15-14 edge with about 5:30 left until halftime. Then the scoring stopped as the Lady Cats ended the half on a 14-2 run to take a 28-17 lead into the break. Pendleton was able to take advantage of 13 first half Augusta turnovers to create their advantage.
The miscues continued to pile up into the third quarter for the Lady Panthers, racking up nine more as Pendleton extended their lead to as large as 24 before an Alexis Shields 3-pointer made it 43-22 after three quarters of play, Augusta scoring seven points in a span of 13:30.
The lead got back to 24 at 50-26, but the Lady Panthers continued to fight.
“Effort I’ll never question. We were down 20-something and cut it down. Can’t ever question our girls’ effort, just sometimes we’re our own worst enemies,” Kelsch said.
They’d get within 10 thanks to a 18-4 run, making it 54-44 with a little over a minute remaining. Augusta would have a couple of opportunities to inch closer from there, but were unable to find the basket to get them within single-digits, Pendleton closing out the contest from the free throw line to get them their fourth win in a row and improve to 4-1 on the season.
“We get frustrated over calls we think we should get or shouldn’t have got on us or a missed shot or a teammate does something. We let frustration set in and every time we do that, you know a lot of them battle that, if each one of them has one of those a game and lets another team go on a run,” Kelsch said. “Our depth right now, we’re trying to play seven players, we’ve had a couple of injuries that have hurt us. It’s keeping us from pressing which we like to do and playing a little faster. We just have to make better decisions and have confidence in our shots.”
Augusta was paced by Madison Kelsch with 14 points, Nicole Arthur adding a double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds. Alexis Shields went for nine points and Hannah Arthur added eight as the Lady Panthers return to action on Wednesday when they play at Nicholas County.
Olivia Verst came off the bench and led the Lady Cats with 18 points. Shelby Turner added 12 and Sydney Manor tossed in 10 for Pendleton.The Lady Cats will look to make it five in a row when they play at Robertson County on Wednesday.
A total of 46 fouls and 59 free throws were attempted in the contest. Augusta turned it over 26 times to Pendleton County’s 19 and the Lady Cats out-rebounded the Lady Panthers, 47-40.
LADY CATS 61, LADY PANTHERS 44
AUGUSTA—11-6-5-22—44
PENDLETON COUNTY—12-16-15-18—61
Scoring:
Augusta (44) — Kelsch 14, N. Arthur 12, Shields 9, H. Arthur 8, Harper 1
Pendleton (61) — O. Verst 18, Turner 12, Manor 10, Eckart 8, Jones 5, Pugh 4, S. Verst 3, Prater 1
3-Pointers Made: Augusta 3 (Shields 2), Pendleton 0
Free Throws: Augusta 13/25, Pendleton 16/34
Rebounds: Augusta 40 (N. Arthur 10), Pendleton 47 (Eckart 8)
Turnovers: Augusta 26, Pendleton 19
Records: Augusta 1-5, Pendleton County 4-1
