The Knox Central girls basketball team won their first district title since 2011-12 on Thursday with a 62-55 win over Pineville. In a game where both teams were even in many statistical categories, it was the Lady Panthers ability to shoot 46.7 percent from three-point range that made the difference.

Knox Central went 7-for-15 from beyond the arc while Pineville struggled shooting only 18.2 percent from long range.

“(Knox Central) shot the ball really well. We went from a 1-3-1, a 2-3 and a chaser. They still made shots,” said Pineville coach Jamie Mills. “We didn’t close out very well, and they out-rebounded us. They did that in the first game.

“Two things we knew we had to do from the first game: we had to get physical with them (and) not let them out-rebound us and then we had to go get the ball inside and attack the rim. A team that shoots like that, you’ve got to close out real fast…and we didn’t get out their quick enough on the shooters.”

It was Presley Partin who paced Knox Central on the offensive end. She ended the night with 18 points while going 5-for-11 from the field. Maddie Pennington chipped in 12 points. Emily Davis registered a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Jill Enix tallied her second straight double-double of the postseason for Pineville scoring a game-high 19 points while grabbing 14 rebounds. Whitney Caldwell tallied 14 points and a team-leading four assists. Raigan King chipped in nine points.

The two teams battled almost even in the first quarter. With 2:57 remaining in the frame, Knox Central led the Lady Lions 10-7. Free throws by King cut the lead to 10-9 with 1:33 left.

An Enix layup off a steal gave Pineville an 11-10 lead. Abby Mills ended the quarter with a pair of free throws that gave the Lady Panthers a 12-11 lead.

Knox Central opened the second with a 7-2 run that saw the Lady Panthers extend their lead to 19-13. A free throw from King cut the lead back to five, but a pair of Davis free throws increased the Knox lead to 21-14 with 4:35 remaining in the half.

Free throws from Enix and Caldwell narrowed the margins to 21-17. A jumper from Combs and a layup by Caldwell at the buzzer brought Pineville within two, 23-21, going into halftime.

A quick layup by King opened the third period and tied the game at 23-23. A 3-pointer by Partin and a jumper by Madison Taylor increased Knox Central’s lead to 28-23.

The Lady Panther’s lead hovered around six points throughout the quarter before a jumper by Pennington gave Knox a 36-29 lead. A layup by Enix cut the lead to six, but a jumper by Taylor gave the Lady Panthers a 39-31 advantage.

A 3-pointer by Partin after a jumper by Fuson ended the frame with Knox leading 42-33.

Knox Central reached a double-digit lead in the fourth and held on to it for most of the frame. An and-1 by Davis followed by a layup gave the Lady Panthers a 14-point, 49-35, lead with over six minutes to play.

An and-1 by Enix was quickly negated by a 3-pointer from Partin to keep the deficit at 14. Layups from Caldwell and King cut the lead to 10, but free throws from Taylor and Partin gave Knox a 55-42 lead. Two more free throws from Pennington gave the Lady Panthers their biggest lead of the game at 57-42.

Pineville closed the final deficit to single digits ending the game on a 9-3 run.

Up Next

Both Pineville and Knox Central advance to the 13th Region tournament beginning next week.

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Knox Central 62, Pineville 55

KNOX CENTRAL (12-14)

Emily Davis 5-9 3-3 13, Madison Taylor 3-7 1-2 7, Presley Partin 5-11 4-4 18, Maddie Pennington 4-7 2-3 12, Abby Mills 2-7 3-4 8, Ryleigh Swafford 2-2 0-0 4, Morgan Warren 0-2 0-1 0 . Totals: 21-45 13-16 62.

PINEVILLE (18-11)

Sarah Combs 2-4 2-4 6, Jill Enix 7-18 5-6 19, Raigan King 3-5 3-4 9, Makenzie Fuson 3-4 0-0 7, Whitney Caldwell 6-11 1-2 14, Chesney Brock 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 21-44 11-16 55.

Knox Central 12 11 19 20 — 62

Pineville 11 10 12 22 — 55

3-point goals: Knox Central 7-15 (Partin 4-7, Pennington 2-3, Mills 1-3, Taylor 0-1, Warren 0-1), Pineville 2-11 (Fuson 1-2, Caldwell 1-3, Enix 0-4, Combs 0-2). Rebounds: Knox Central 23 (Davis 10, Taylor 7, Warren 2, Swafford 1, Pennington 1, Partin 1, Mills 1), Pineville 29 (Enix 14, King 5, Caldwell 4, Combs 3, Fuson 2, Brock 1).

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