BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
GILBERT, W.Va. — The Tug Valley Lady Panthers were able to get in a game during the cold and snowy weather Jan. 29.
They downed the Lady Miners of county rival Mingo Central 62-35 in a game at Gilbert Middle School’s gymnasium. The game was a home contest for Mingo Central, but the school’s gym is still closed after a pipe burst during a boys’ game a couple of weeks ago, flooding one end of the court.
Coach Seth Ooten saw his Lady Panthers squad jump out to a 16-3 lead after one quarter and take a 35-14 lead heading into the halftime break. Tug Valley outscored Mingo Central 15-7 in the third frame and 19-14 in the fourth quarter.
“After not playing a game for 12 days and being off practice for five days it was refreshing to be back in a gym playing,” Ooten said. “I thought we played well in spots considering the layoff. Effort was good and we played well as a team.”
Coach Ooten was able to play his reserves and several broke into the scoring column.
“We got to go to our bench early in the game and play some combinations with our first five and second five that we normally don’t get to see,” he said.
Haven Deskins led the Lady Panthers with 17 points, while Bailee Hall scored 12 and Katie Hall 11. Gracie Hynd chipped in seven points, Mindi Dearnell netted four, Kyle DeBoard and Lauryn White each scored three, Brooke Spaulding and Alexis Messer each finished with two points, and Katelynn Richardson added one point.
Deskins is averaging 14 points per game so far this season.
Bailee Hall got another double-double pulling down 13 rebounds. Hall is one of the top rebounders per game in the Mountain State.
Deskins dished out five assists to lead the team in that statistic, while DeBoard had four steals and four assists.
The Lady Panthers had to postpone a couple of games due to the recent inclement weather. Games at Lawrence County and Man High School were both rescheduled for later dates. Tug Valley also had to cancel some practices during the snowy weather and school cancellations.
The Class A No. 2-ranked Lady Panthers improved to 11-3 on the season.
The Class AA Lady Miners are now 0-11.
Mingo Central is in a rebuilding phase under first-year head coach Nate Siggers.
Score by quarters:
Tug: 16 19 15 19 – 62
Mingo: 3 11 7 14 – 35