By Mark Carpenter
Ranked team on the other side of the floor? No problem for the Peebles Lady Indians thus far this season. For the second time, Coach Billie Jo Justice and her squad have knocked off a team ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press Division III poll. (The Lady Indians are in Division IV.)
First the Peebles girls defeated the Eastern Lady warriors on the Eastern home court and on Saturday, Jan. 16 the Lady Indians traveled to Fairland High School for a showcase event where they faced the Alexander Lady Spartans,another ranked team.
Led by 28 points from senior Jacey Justice, the Lady Indians improved to 9-1 on the season and moved up to #5 in the Division IV poll as they outlasted the Lady Spartans by a final count of 55-50. As usual, the Alexander squad threw a myriad of defenses at the Peebles leading scorer, but Justice still managed to pour in 28, going 9 for 11 from the free throw line.
“Teams continue to throw junk defenses at us,” said Coach Justice. “As a team we are learning to handle them and our kids just continue to step up.”
On Saturday, the Lady Spartans threw some sort of triangle and two at Peebles, face guarding Justice as most teams do and then playing man on freshman guard Payton Johnson, which left openings for other girls to score and Gabby Cobb took full advantage, scoring 11 first half points as the Alexander defense left openings on the win and baseline according to Coach Justice.
Peebles got off to a good start on Saturday, getting points from Justice, Cobb, and Lilly Gray and leading 17-14 after one. With Justice adding 10 more, Peebles won the second stanza and took a 34-26 halftime lead.
The third period saw the Lady Spartans rally , outscoring the Lady Indians 17-8 to claim a one-point lead at 43-42 as the final quarter kicked off. The Peebles girls were unfazed, however, and came back in the fourth frame to snatch away the victory.
Over the span of the final eight minutes, the Lady Indians were solid from the free throw line, hitting seven from the stripe to hole the lead once they got it back. Leading just 51-50 in the final minute, Justice got loose down the lane for an uncontested layup, then hit two free throws to salt away the win.
Justice’s 28 led all scorers in the game, with Cobb adding her 11 and Lilly Gray scoring 9.
The Lady Indians were back in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action on Thursday, Jan. 21 with a trip to Manchester to face the Lady Hounds. That result was not available at press time.
Peebles
17 17 8 13 —55
Alexander
14 12 17 7 —50
Peebles (55): Justice 9 9-11 28, Nichols 1 0-0 2, Cobb 4 3-4 11, Johnson 2 1-3 5, Gray 3 3-3 9, Team 19 16-21 55.
Alexander (50): Mace 3 2-2 9, Casto 2 0-0 4, Scurlock 5 0-0 10, Meeks 2 4-5 9, Grinstead 6 3-5 16, Raines 1 0-1 2, Team 19 9-13 50.
Three-Point Goals:
Peebles (1)- Justice 1
Alexander (3)- Mace 1, Meeks 1, Grinstead 1