Lady Panthers Beat Ellington, Eldon
The South Iron Lady Panthers beat Ellington 67-52 on Tuesday, Dec. 6, and then mounted a ferocious fourth-quarter comeback to take down Eldon 71-68 on Saturday. The Lady Panthers are now 4-1.
The Ellington game was on the road, but that didn’t stop the Panthers from starting out on fire. They put up 20 in the first quarter and held the Whippets to just 10. Madison Ayers, Allecia Cornell and Drew Gayle all hit big three-pointers in the opening onslaught.
In the second quarter, South Iron edged out Ellington 17-16 to take a 37-26 halftime lead.
That lead continued to grow as the Panthers pumped in 19 points in the third; in the fourth, South Iron added another 11points. The Whippets could only muster 26 points in the final two frames.
All five starters were in double figures in scoring for South Iron. Maddie Ayers led the way with 17 on five buckets and a three while going 4-of-6 from the line. Enzley Dinkins had 15, Allecia Cornell had 14 (including three from beyond the arc), Drew Gayle had 11 and Anna Parker had 10.
The game against Eldon would be a tougher test. Taking on a Class 4 school and playing up three levels is never an easy task, but the Panthers brought it in this one.
Things didn’t start off easy though, as the Mustangs jumped to a 30-19 first-quarter lead. That 11-point deficit would only grow in the second quarter, as Eldon put up another 20 while South Iron could only scratch out 16. South Iron trailed 50-33 heading into the break.
Anna Parker had 17 first-half points.
South Iron buckled down its defense in the third. They outscored Eldon 16-13 and trailed by 14 heading into the final quarter.
A huge three from Ayers, seven points from Dinkins and a collective 9-of-15 effort from the line propelled South Iron to a 71-68 victory.
Ayers led the second half offense with 21 points, and she nailed seven clutch buckets from the charity stripe in the second half. But Parker led all scorers with 26 points, and she drained three from beyond the arc, including a clutch pair in the third quarter.
