PIKEVILLE — North Laurel had a chance to pick up a quality win when the Lady Jaguars took a long trek to Pikeville.
Eddie Mahan’s squad battled throughout the contest, and only trailed 29-26 at halftime before the Lady Panthers used a 21-7 third quarter run to pave the way to their 66-53 win.
“In the first half, we played good defense, with energy, talking and good rotations,” Mahan said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t finish the possessions off and gave them way too many offensive boards. If that had been corrected, we would have had a sizable lead instead of being down three at half. Then in the third quarter, we had three minutes of letting up, and against a team like that they can kill you quick.”
Brooke Nichelson led North Laurel with 17 points while Chloe McKnight added 16 points, and Mariella Claybrook finished with 13 points.
“Our team talent wise right now is a top-tier team but unfortunately our mental toughness is not where it needs to be and it’s killing us,” Mahan said. “I have to figure some rotation issues out and we have a chance of being really good, but those two things have to be fixed.”
