For a half, Pineville was better than one of the top teams in the 13th Region on Thursday. The Lady Lions went toe-to-toe with Clay County and held a 24-22 lead heading into halftime. The Lady Tigers started hitting shots and tightened up their defense in the second half to march toward a 56-39 victory.

“The score does not indicate how well we played. We played great defense overall but lost their three-point shooters late,” said Pineville coach Jamie Mills. “Raigan King got in foul trouble and we struggled offensively when she was out. We had a stretch of turnovers that hurt us.”

Raigan King paced Pineville with a team-high 16 points. Whitney Caldwell was the only other Lady Lion to reach double figures ending the night with 10.

For Clay County, it was Courtney Jones who stepped off the bench to score a game-high 18 points. All of her points came from beyond the arc.

Senior Shelby Phillips finished with 11 points. Pineville held Kaylee Mathis, who is averaging 21 points per game, to just 5 points on two field goals.

It was as strong third quarter performance by Jones that helped propel the Lady Tigers to victory. The freshman guard hit four 3-pointers in the quarter to score 12 of Clay’s 18 points in the third. The Lady Tigers took a 40-32 lead into the final quarter.

The Lady Tigers outscored Pineville 16-7 in the fourth to walk away with the 17-point victory.

“I am really proud of our girls on the effort and pride they play with. I knew Clay County was worried when they went into a spread offense to hold the ball,” said Mills. “This team is getting better every game, and I know we can compete with anybody. Clay beat South Laurel —who is first in our region — and we gave them all they wanted.”

Up Next

Pineville (8-8) returned to action on Friday when they hosted Williamsburg (11-6).

Clay County (13-7) will play North Laurel (15-4) on Tuesday.

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Pineville (39): Virginia Hall 6, Whitney Caldwell 10, Chesney Brock 4, Summer Partin 3, Raigan King 16.

Clay County (56): Clara Collins 7, Shelby Phillips 11, Kimberlyn Mills 9, Summer Parker 6, Kaylee Mathis 5, Courtney Jones 18.