Peebles’ Tatum Arey, left, defends against New Boston’s Taylen Hickman in action from Saturday afternoon at PHS, where the Lady Indians continued their strong season with a 74-39 win. Arey scored 10 points in the winning effort. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

 

By Mark Carpenter-

The early season roll for the Peebles Lady Indians continued on Saturday, Jan. 4 as they were in non-conference action, hosting the New Boston Lady Tigers. The Lady Tigers came into the game sporting an impressive 9-3 record, but they were no match for a Lady Indians squad that placed four players in double figures and cruised to a 74-39 victory.
Peebles was led by another monster game from junior Jacey Justice, who scored 32 points, dished out 9 assists, had 8 steals, and hauled in 3 rebounds. Midway through the second quarter, the New Boston scorekeeper, referring to Justice, made the comment, “someone needs to stop her.” For three years, many have tried, and many have failed at that task.
Justice wasn’t alone in doing the damage for the Lady Indians as Lilly Gray and Harlee Wilkinson each put up 13 points, and Tatum Arey contributed 10 as the Peebles girls improved to 8-1 on the season.
“It seems like it takes us awhile each game to get our mojo going, but once we do, we can be pretty good,” said Peebles head coach Billie Jo Justice after the big win. “Defense needs to produce offense for us because we just seem to struggle in the halfcourt, so when we can push it a bit we get better.”
It took a couple of minutes in the early going for the Lady Indians to get started as they fell behind 4-0, but rallied with six straight to take a lead they never relinquished. The Peebles girls turned up the heat on defense and their full court pressure and some early foul trouble caused fits for the Lady Tigers and a 10-0 run to end the first period, sparked by four baskets by Justice, gave the home team a double digit lead at 19-8 after one quarter.
New Boston made a minor run early in the second frame to pull within 23-14, but another 10-0 Peebles run, sparked by their defense, put the outcome in “no doubt” with a commanding 41-18 advantage. Though the Lady Tigers finished the half strong, they still found themselves staring at a 44-23 deficit at the break.
Justice opened the third quarter with five quick points, after tallying 23 in the first half alone, and a later jumper by Arey and bucket by Gray kept the Peebles lead safe at 56-28. Wilkinson, who has become a valuable asset off the bench for Coach Justice, closed the third period with a jumper that kept the Peebles lead doubled, up 60-30.
To add insult to injury, the Lady Indians began quarter number four with a 7-0 run, two baskets by Arey and a Wilkinson three-pointer, and then did most of their late scoring from the free throw line as they cruised home with their eighth win in nine outings, by the final score of 74-39.
Continuing her assault on the school record books, Justice’s 32 points led all scorers, but the win over New Boston was a team effort, as thee other girls hit double figures, a combination that if continued will make the Lady Indians a very tough out. Lilly Gray and Harlee Wilkinson each scored 13, with Tatum Arey breaking out of a mini-slump with 10 points.
“Tatum has been in a little of a rut so we tried to run some things today for her, ” said Coach Justice. She got some good looks and hit a couple to get her confidence back. Even if our kids don’t score, they do so many other little things well that help us. We got to put some people in different spots today which can only help us down the road.”
New Boston was paced by 10 points from Shelby Easter, with Kenzie Whitley adding 8.
Update: The Lady Indians improved to 9-1 on Monday, Jan. 6 with a 62-45 conference win over Lynchburg, also improving their conference record to 5-1. The Peebles girls will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 9, again in SHAC play, as they host the Fairfield Lady Lions.

New Boston
8 15 7 9 —39
Peebles
19 25 16 14 —74

New Boston (39): Lexus Oiler 3 1-2 7, Williams 1 2-4 4, Easter 4 1-2 10, Whitley 4 0-0 8, O’Rourke 1 0-0 2, Hickman 0 1-2 1, Sammy Oiler 1 2-2 5, Cook 1 0-0 2, Team 13 7-12 39.
Peebles (74): Wilkinson 6 0-0 13, Workman 0 1-2 1, Justice 14 3-4 32, Beekman 0 1-2 1, Arey 5 0-0 10, Brown 2 0-0 4, Gray 5 3-4 13, team 32 8-10 74.
Three-Point Goals:
New Boston (2)- Easter 1, S. Oiler 1
Peebles (2)- Wilkinson 1, Justice 1