Pinckneyville ran out to a 19-8 first quarter lead and then held off Anna-Jonesboro the rest of the way for a 56-44 win Tuesday night in the conference opener for both teams.
With the win, the Lady Panthers improved to 5-0 overall.
“Taylor Cicardi did a nice job of getting us on the board early, scoring around the rim for 14 first half points, and Emily Miller really finished the game strong with 13 second half points, while Dani Jenkel was steady throughout with seven in each half,” said Pinckneyville coach Alan Engelhardt. “Our defense really set the tone early, getting 17 first half steals, but we didn't do a good enough job of converting them into points.  I thought we really let down after we pushed the lead to 24 in the third quarter, and we never got back into the rhythm of things.  We aren't playing with a whole lot of confidence on offense right now, which is strange because we are averaging over 60 points a game.”
Pinckneyville led 28-15 at halftime, but were outscored 29-28 in the second half.
Cicardi finished with a team high 18 points to pace the Pinckneyville offense. Miller added 15 and Jenkel had 14 in the win.
The Lady Panthers take on Benton Thursday.