Junior Lydia Maddox came up big for the Peebles Lady Indians in their Monday win at Eastern Brown, scoring 11 points, a total that included a trio of three-point goals. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Varsity girls basketball teams in southeast Ohio- Circle the wagons! The Peebles Lady Indians are on the attack! With a win at Eastern Brown on Monday night, the Lady Indians extended their winning streak to 13 games, their last loss coming back on December 14. The hot streak has improved Coach Sidney Pell and her squad to a 17-2 overall record, 9-2 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, with three games remaining in the regular season.
The Lady Indians picked up four wins last week, January 22 at Hillsboro (56-50), January 24 vs. Williamsburg (61-26), January 25 at West Union (58-30) and January 27 vs. Greenfield McLain (51-40).
The latest Peebles victim came on Monday, January 29 as the Lady Indians ventured across the county border to face off with the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors, a team that has not had their normal season but is still a dangerous foe. It was the Lady Indians who came out on fire on Monday might, lighting up the scoreboard for a 24-9 advantage after the opening period.
In the second stanza, the home team tightened up the defense and held Peebles to just seven points but unfortunately for the Lady Warriors, they only managed four and at the half, it was Peebles seemingly with a comfortable 31-13 lead.
The third quarter was a total swing in momentum as the Lady Indians went cold from the field, turned the ball over and allowed Eastern to get back in the game. The Lady Warriors outscored their visitors 18-6 in the third and heading into the final stanza, the Peebles lead had shrunk to 37-31.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Warriors were able to cut the Peebles lead down to five but could get no closer as the Lady Indians made the plays down the stretch, led by senior guard Payton Johnson, and pulled away late to post the 51-39 victory.
As is normally the case, Johnson led the Peebles scoring with 20 points, going 8 for 10 from the charity stripe. The Lady Indians also got a solid performance from junior Lydia Maddox, who tallied 11 points, including a trio of three-point goals.
“We played really well early and then came out of the halftime break flat, which we have a tendency to do,” Coach Pell explained in her postgame radio interview after the Eastern win. “We started playing well in the fourth quarter because we had to. We weren’t being aggressive against their zone and that’s something we need to work on.”
“We have to get better defensively, we gave up way too many easy looks, but credit to Eastern, they put the ball in the basket. We did step it up on defense in the fourth quarter. We didn’t necessarily play well tonight, but we found a way to win.”
The win improved the Lady Indians to 9-2 in the SHAC, now in a second place tie with Lynchburg after the Lady Mustangs fell to North Adams on Monday. The Peebles girls, who stood #2 in the Division III Southeast District RPI at press time, will be back in conference action on Thursday when they host the 9-10 Ripley Lady Jays.
