The Lady Pacers got first victory last Friday night against Rising Sun, winning by a score of 54-34.
The win was also Coach Wayne Ellegood’s 200th career win. This is his 18th year in coaching.
In the first quarter it looked like it might be a close game. Ashley Chase and Ashley Bright both scored several times during the first quarter. Ashley Bright also added two three-pointers in the first quarter. Rising Sun was trying to keep pace with the Lady Pacers but couldn’t keep up — finishing the first quarter with a score of 13-8.
In the second quarter the Lady Pacers only allowed Rising Sun to score six points. Several Pacers scored this quarter: April Thieman had three points in the quarter, as did Natalie Daugherty; and Ashley Chase added a nice three-pointer in the quarter to go along with two other points.
The score at the end of the second quarter was 24-14 in favor of Switzerland County.
In the third quarter, Rising Sun came out with determination to score big. The Lady Shiners scored five points in the first four minutes of the period — but those would be the only points they scored that quarter.
With four minutes played in the third quarter, Rising Sun actually closed to within five points, 24-19; but that would be as close as the Lady Shiners would get for the remainder of the contest.
From that point, Ashley Chase took a few minutes to warm up after halftime, then decided to put on a show for Rising Sun.
She was the only Lady Pacer to score in the third quarter, garnering all 10 points in the quarter with the help of her teammates. The Pacers would score the final 10 points in the third quarter, ending with a 34-19 lead.
Starting the fourth quarter, the Lady Pacers stayed ahead of the Rising Sun team by a 20-14 margin over the final eight minutes.
Scoring nine points each in the quarter were Ashley Chase and Ashley Bright; and Natalie Daugherty added in two.
The game ended with a score of 54-33, and Switzerland County had picked up its first win of the young season.
Even though the Lady Pacers won the game, it wasn’t exactly a perfect night. Switzerland County committed 27 turnovers and shot just 31.3 percent (20-for-64) for the game; while Rising Sun turned the ball over 28 times and shot 37.5 percent (12-for-32).
The difference in the game was rebounding and four three-pointers. The Lady Pacers also had 24 offensive rebounds.
Ashley Chase ended up with 29 points, and she also was 8-for-12 from the freethrow line. Junior Ashley Bright had a very impressive game with a career high 17 points. Natalie Daugherty finished with five; and April Thieman finished with three.
The Lady Pacers will be playing this Saturday at South Decatur High School with a noon start for the junior varsity game. It will be Switzerland County’s fourth straight road game to open the season.
The Lady Pacers will have their first home game of the season this Tuesday, November 29th, versus Milan.
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The Lady Pacers jayvee team also had its first victory of the season, defeating Rising Sun 20-17. Scoring for the Lady Pacers junior varsity team was Megan McCarty with seven points; Christina Ahaus with six points; Brittany Hall added four points; and Karista Wengert added two.
— Debi Sefton