Fillies outlast San Jac:
Panola moves on to face Tyler JC in
tournament
Longview News Journal
Saturday, March 10, 2007
JACKSONVILLE — After Blinn's women used overtime to end Angelina's season, 73-68, and members of the San Jacinto and Lon Morris men's basketball teams briefly brawled in the bleachers, Panola's scheduled 8 p.m. start Friday at Lon Morris College's Bob and Vivian Gymnasium was closer to 9 o'clock.
The delay apparently didn't affect the Fillies too much. Panola built a healthy lead by halftime (36-21), withstood a couple San Jacinto runs and used its athleticism to outlast the Lady Gators 74-61, advancing to the Region XIV semifinals on Sunday to play Tyler Junior College at 3 p.m.
Panola built a 40-23 lead less than three minutes into the second half, but San Jacinto closed the gap to five twice within the next four minutes. San Jac's Precious Ivy hit a 3-pointer to cut the Fillies' lead to 44-39, but Panola responded to push the lead back to 12 with 11:33 left. The Lady Gators got no closer than 59-52, which came with 6:54 to play, the rest of the way.
Kim Edmonson led Panola with 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting, grabbing seven rebounds while blocking four shots. Dominique Sims overcame serious foul trouble to score eight points — all in the second half — and provide a big spark down the stretch. Sims scored seven points in a seven-minute span late in the second half before fouling out, and led Panola with 11 rebounds.
Karee Houlette added 10 points and five assists for Panola, while Beata Widding had nine points, eight boards, three assists and three steals. Tiffanie Johnson, Satara Harrell, Casie Adams and Vedrana Milakovic combined for 28 points.
Panola's pace was too fast for the Lady Gators. San Jacinto was able to keep the tempo manageable for the first nine minutes of the game, but Panola then started to push on both ends of the floor, getting easy shot opportunities while harassing the Lady Gators' guards on the perimeter.
Because of that, Panola was able to claim a 29-19 rebounding advantage in the first half, while holding Taujhnae Travis and Monica Perkins-Miller, San Jac's top two scorers, to a combined 3-for-13 first-half performance.
San Jacinto led 11-8 early, but Panola's athleticism took over to outscore the Lady Gators 25-12 the rest of the half.
Travis played better in the second half, finishing with 18 points, while Perkins-Miller added 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Trinity Valley faces Blinn at 1 p.m. on Sunday prior to Panola's game against Tyler.
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