PIKEVILLE — North Laurel’s perfect season came to an end on Saturday with a 53-52 loss to Pikeville.
The Lady Jaguars (18-1) fought throughout, but the Lady Panthers did just enough to pull off the one point upset.
“Perfect storm of not being prepared, not having the energy we needed, foul trouble, and poor game management at the end by me,” North Laurel coach Eddie Mahan said. “A perfect record is not what we were after but daily improvement is, and we haven’t had that in a couple of weeks. I have a very talented team and it’s my job to get them back on track.”
North Laurel led 16-10 at the end of the first quarter thanks to Mariella Claybrook’s six points, Brooke Nichelson’s five points and a 3-pointer by Bella Sizemore.
Pikeville took a 27-26 lead into the locker room at halftime before six more points by Nichelson allowed the Lady Jaguars to send the game tied at 40 apiece entering the fourth quarter.
The Lady Panthers pulled out the win by outscoring North Laurel, 13-12, in the final eight minutes.
Nichelson led the Lady Jaguars with 17 points while Claybrook added 12 points and Sizemore finished with eight points.
