Pine Grove took to the court after the Ingomar homecoming ceremony on Friday in front of a capacity crowd, the old court at a standing room only to see the Lady Panthers take on the Lady Falcons.
Despite the upstart Lady Falcons coming out feeding off of their home crowds energy, the Lady Panthers were able to hand Ingomar their first home game loss in five years with a 64-40 victory.
The Lady Panthers found themselves trailing Ingomar midway through the first quarter but a burst of scoring led by senior Karlie Rogers pulled Pine Grove ahead 19-13 at the end of the period.
The second quarter saw Pine Grove turn up the full court pressure, creating turnovers that led to easy buckets, including 8 points in the period from Loren Elliott and the Lady Panthers took a 36-22 halftime lead.
Pine Grove coach Katie Bates was not satisfied with her teams halftime lead, and instead implored them to focus on defense.
“We aren’t getting back on defense and aren’t chasing loose balls. We have to show more effort,” Coach Bates told her team at the half.
The third quarter saw the defensive intensity pick up. Pine Grove held the Lady Falcons to just 5 third quarter points.
With a comfortable lead heading to the fourth quarter, Pine Grove outscored Ingomar 18-13 in the final frame to wrap up the 64-40 victory and move to 2-0 on the season.
The Lady Panthers are back in action next Friday on the road against defending 3A state champion Kossuth. More pictures from Friday night’s game on Facebook and Instagram.
