LONDON — The defending 13th Region champion North Laurel Lady Jaguars wasted no time putting Pineville away during both teams’ season opener.
Senior Brooke Nichelson scored 32 points, and grabbed 10 rebounds while knocking down five 3-pointers during North Laurel’s 80-21 win over the Lady Mountain Lions.
“Very good effort tonight,” North Laurel coach Eddie Mahan said. “The execution and fundamentals though still have some room for improvement. Pineville is a better team than what the score showed tonight. We never allowed them to feel comfortable and run half court sets. That kept them out of rhythm. Ava Arnett is one of the best players in the region and we knew we were going to have to focus a lot on her.
“We haven’t played fast the last few years because of personnel but are returning to our blue collar- fast paced ways,” he added. “This team is really deep and you could see that with every player that dressed scoring except for one. We shot the ball well and hit nine threes in the first half alone. When we are shooting like that we will be hard to beat. We will be a very hard team to zone this year. Brooke Nichelson showed why she is one of the best players in the state. I could have easily broke etiquette and played her more than the 17 minutes she played but we are trying to develop our multiple young players. If this team keeps working and makes this just our starting point then this team has the makings to be special.”
Nichelson dominated from the tip-off, scoring 14 points in the first quarter as the Lady Jaguars built a 25-5 advantage.
North Laurel (1-0) continued to play relentless defense in the second quarter, limiting Pineville (0-1) to only five points again. Nichelson added 12 more points while hitting two 3-pointers as the Lady Jaguars’ lead grew to 52-10 at halftime.
Nichelson added six points in the third quarter along with Haley Combs as North Laurel took a 72-16 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Bella Sizemore added nine points in the win while hitting three 3-pointers. Combs and Mariella Claybrook added eight points apiece. Bella Mahan hit two 3-pointers and finished with six points while Bella Lewis hit a 3-pointer and scored five points. The Lady Jaguars finished with 11 3-pointers in the win.
Ava Arnett led Pineville with 11 points while Rachel Howard scored six points.
North Laurel will be back in action at home Thursday against Hazard while the Lady Mountain Lions will host Whitley County.
