For the first time this year, the well-oiled machine that is the Pineville girls basketball team looked out of sync and outmatched. Sunbright, Tennessee led wire-to-wire against the Lady Lions and delivered a 58-38 victory in Pineville’s final game of the J. Frank White Classic on Friday.

The Lady Tigers capitalized on transition baskets and Pineville’s 19 turnovers. The Sunbright defense held Pineville to single-digit quarters in the second and third while never allowing the Lady Lions to put up more than 13 points in a quarter.

“Today, we were out of control. Our offense, we weren’t running a lot of plays. We were just making it up, and that’s what I’m most disappointed in,” said Pineville coach Jamie Mills. “We’re lost on some subs. They don’t know the plays, and I’m disappointed in that. The main thing is I want something ran out there — not just running up and down the floor. That’s were your turnovers came because we were not running anything.

“We just weren’t getting back and our defense was on our heels. We just didn’t play good basketball. We didn’t buckle down and play good. We did nothing well tonight. We didn’t play good offense, we didn’t play good defense. We were confused. It’s ugly.”

Lauren Farmer was a force for Sunbright scoring 25 points with 13 coming in the first half. Shelley Shannon added 15 points to the scoreboard for the Lady Tigers.

Jill Enix paced Pineville’s effort with 16 points while grabbing 14 rebounds. Sarah Combs ended the night with nine points and a team-leading two steals. Makenzie Fuson finished with six points and four rebounds.

Sunbright set the tone early opening the game with a 14-2 run that saw Farmer score eight points. A lone layup by Combs was the only points Pineville scored during that stretch.

Back-to-back baskets from Enix and Fuson cut the deficit to 14-7. Madison Ford hit a 3-pointer shortly after a Sunbright basket to narrow the margin to 16-10. A Farmer 3-pointer gave the Lady Tigers a 21-10 advantage at the end of one.

Neither team got much going offensively in the second quarter. The Lady Lions and Sunbright exchanged baskets for most of the period with free throws by Chesney Brock ending the half with Pineville trailing 31-18.

The Lady Tigers found their stride again in the third quarter outscoring the Lady Lions 19-7 to put the game out of reach. Sunbright walked away with a 20-point victory.

Up Next

Pineville (7-2) will take the next few days to celebrate Christmas. They return to action on Dec. 27 when they host Powell County (5-4) at 5 p.m. as part of the Chain Rock Classic.

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Sunbright 58, Pineville 38

SUNBRIGHT

Alexis Griffith 1 0-0 2, Olivia Northrup 2 0-0 4, Shelley Shannon 5 0-0 15, Olivia Brown 3 0-0 6, Lauren Farmer 19 4-5 25, Calysta DeFee 1 0-2 2, Brianna Cox 2 0-1 4. Totals: 24 4-8 58.

PINEVILLE (7-2)

Sarah Combs 4 0-1 9, Jill Enix 5 5-6 16, Raigan King 0 0-0 0, Makenzie Fuson 1 4-5 6, Virginia Hall 0 0-0 0, Chesney Brock 0 2-2 2, Madison Ford 2 0-0 5. Totals: 12 11-14 38.

Sunbright 21 10 19 8 — 58

Pineville 10 8 7 13 — 38

3-point goals: Sunbright 6 (Shannon 5, Farmer 1), Pineville 3 (Combs 1, Enix 1, Ford 1).

Reach Anthony Cloud at 606-302-9090 or on Twitter @AnthonyCloudMDN