Sometimes, the shots just aren’t falling for you. The Pineville girls basketball team found that out first hand on Friday when they hosted Madison Southern. Despite being able to hold a slim lead heading into halftime, the Lady Lions’ shooting woes eventually caught up with them in the second half with Madison Southern taking the 42-32 victory.

Pineville’s offense was a three-person game. Raigan King paced the Lady Lions with a game-high 18 points with 12 coming in the first half. Whitney Caldwell was held without a single field goal in the second half on her way to an 11-point outing. Halle Jones was the only other Pineville player to score, ending the night with three points.

“Our offense wasn’t there at all tonight. That’s the difference. We didn’t make the shots when we needed them to go in,” said Pineville coach Jamie Mills. “When they did miss the shots, we let them get second chances. They outrebounded us. I think we rebounded well the first quarter, OK the second, and then we just didn’t rebound very well. We gave them too many opportunities especially when we’re having an off shooting night.”

Despite the off night offensively, the Lady Lions showcased why they are one of the top-40 defenses in the state holding Madison Southern to 42 points. The Lady Eagles were averaging 53 points per game heading into Friday’s match-up.

“Our defense was good, but we just didn’t play on the other end,” said Mills. “The only thing I can say is we didn’t make the shots we needed to make, and we got outrebounded there at the end.”

Samantha Cornelison led Southern with 15 points. All but three of her points came in the second half.

It was Southern’s bench-play that stepped up for the Lady Eagles. Morgan Flannery and Macie Daniels scored eight points apiece to help propel Southern to victory.

Pineville got off to a fast start in the first, opening the game on an 11-1 run. King scored six points during that stretch with the Lady Lions holding a 10-point lead with just under four minutes remaining in the quarter. Southern ended the quarter on a 5-0 run with Zaria Carter hitting a free throw to close out the period.

Pineville held an 11-6 lead heading into the second.

After trading baskets to open the second, King scored back-to-back baskets to give the Lady Lions a 17-9 lead. Southern answered with a Flannery basket and a Daniels 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 17-14.

The teams went back-and-forth down the stretch with Pineville taking a 21-19 lead into halftime.

Southern began taking control in the third quarter. The Lady Eagles opened the quarter with baskets from Cornelison and Reece Estep to take their first lead of the game (23-21). Following free throws from Caldwell, Estep and Sunni Walters scored to increase the Southern lead to 27-23.

After trading baskets, Aleigh Richardson hit a basket at the buzzer to give Southern a 34-27 lead heading into the fourth.

The Lady Eagles outscored Pineville 8-5 in the final quarter to secure the 10-point victory.

Up Next

Pineville (16-10) traveled to Bell County (11-15) on Monday.

Madison Southern (13-12) will host Boyle County (7-14) on Tuesday.