By Mark Carpenter-
It wasn’t a thing of beauty and it won’t be a film to watch over and over, but a win is a win. The 2018 Holiday Classic began on Friday afternoon with a match up between the Peebles Lady Indians and the West Union Lady Dragons. The Lady Dragons kept it close for a half, but a huge 17-2 run by Peebles in the third quarter propelled them to a 56-38 victory and a berth in the Saturday night Holiday Classic championship game, plus a win in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference as the first round games of the Classic are also considered conference games.
The opening quarter was an offensive struggle for both sides and the Lady Dragons could consider themselves lucky to still be close considering how careless they were with the ball. A basket by the Lady Dragons’ Harley Silvia tied the game at 4 with 5:30 left in the first but a 6-0 run by Peebles erased that deadlock and eventually led to a 12-8 lead for the Lady Indians after one period.
“West Union came out really aggressive and we came out a little flat,” said Peebles head coach Billie Jo Justice in her postgame radio interview. “We like to press and run but there were times tonight when we were a little slow and flat-footed, but give credit to the west Union girls for their hustle the whole game.”
The pace picked up in the second period as the Lady Dragons forged a tie at 13 after a three-pointer by Lexie Rowe and a bucket by her older sister Kiersten. Four consecutive free throws by Jacey Justice gave the lead back to Peebles but West Union rallied for their first lead of the game at 18-17 on a long three from Mackenzie Bickett and another Kiersten Rowe basket. One of the issues for West Union all night was their inability to keep Justice from driving to the basket and drawing fouls and an old-fashioned three-point play by the outstanding Peebles sophomore gave the lead back to her team at 20-19.
Kiersten Rowe took care of that small deficit in a big way, converting the rare four-point play, hitting a three-pointer, drawing the foul, and sinking the free throw. Late in the first half with the game tied at 23, the Lady Dragons sent Bickett to the line, where she hit the first shot, missed the second, but grabbed her own rebound and scored to send West Union to the intermission with a surprising 26-23 advantage.
The third quarter turned out to be the game’s decisive eight minutes and it began with Justice scoring on a put back and West Union’s McKenzie Kirker firing in a three-point goal to give her team a 29-25 lead, but it was another five minutes before the Lady Dragons scored again and the Lady Indians took full advantage of that drought, going on a huge 13-0 run to take firm control of the contest. Among that run were baskets by Kylie Sims and Tatum Arey, a Justice three-pointer, two Jerilin Toller free throws, and a bucket by Lilly Gray that gave Peebles a 38-29 lead.
A basket by WU’s Molly Purcell with 1:18 left in the third temporarily stopped the bleeding but the period closed with three points from Arey that gave her team a 42-31 advantage headed to the final quarter.
Within the first half of the final period, the Lady Indians had extended their lead out to 50-34 with two more baskets from Justice and another from Christian Reed, before Coach Justice decided to protect the margin and take the air out and keep the clock running. In the game’s final minute, Kiersten Rowe hit another trey but a nice put back score off her own missed free throw by Toller closed out the scoring in a 56-38 Peebles win that sent the Lady Indians into the Saturday night championship game to face North Adams for a year of county bragging rights.
“Our girls are excited to be in the final game and hopefully we will come out and play well,” said Coach Justice.
Jacey Justice led the Lady Indians (8-2, 6-2 SHAC) and all scorers with 26 points, going 11 of 15 from the charity stripe. She was joined in double figures by Tatum Arey who tallied 11 points, with Kylie Sims adding 7.
The Lady Dragons (2-6, 2-4 SHAC) also placed a pair of girls in double figures, led by Kiersten Rowe’s 11 points, with Mackenzie Bickett adding 10.
Peebles
12 11 19 14 —56
West Union
8 18 5 7 —38
Peebles (56): Justice 7 11-15 26, Toller 1 3-4 5, Reed 1 0-0 2, Arey 5 1-4 11, Brown 0 1-2 1, Gray 2 0-1 4, Sims 2 3-4 7, Team 18 19-30 56.
W. Union (38): L. Rowe 2 0-1 5, Silvia 2 0-1 4, Baldwin 1 1-2 3, Bickett 3 3-8 10, Kirker 1 0-0 3, K. Rowe 4 1-1 11, Purcell 1 0-2 2, Team 14 5-15 38.
Three-Point Goals:
Peebles (1)- Justice 1
W. Union (5)- L. Rowe 1, Bickett 1, Kirker 1, K. Rowe 2
