AP's Tough Scheduling Makes For Tough Loss To Visiting Pendleton

AVON PARK - The Pendleton Panthers displayed a perfect inside-out game against a befuddled Avon Park girls basketball squad on Monday night, draining long-range shots early and then passing to the post for easy buckets in a 51-25 win over the Red Devils in a non-district meeting.

Small forward Kristen Madenson drained a pair of 3-pointers moments into the game and power forward Erica Woods scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the first quarter to give the Panthers a 12-point lead after a very sloppy opening stanza.

Avon Park had every weakness exposed against the experienced Panthers, as the Red Devil guards turned the ball over countless times with weak passes and poor ball handling that helped Pendleton take a 25-10 lead into the locker room at half.

"The bad passes are not what I was expecting out of my girls," AP head coach Paulette Daley said. "It's not like we don't work on these things in practice, but sometimes I can't get them to play the same come game time."

The scheduling of a team of Pendleton's talent is all in Daley's game plan this season.

"You can't get better by steam-rolling past teams," the AP head coach said. "This was good game experience for us. It also helps us come playoff time and my girls won't be shocked by the higher level of competition.

"A game like this shows us what we need to work on and also what we want to strive to be as a team."

Avon Park's Jamee Hawthorne scored four points and had a game-high six steals, while Kandice Stukes chipped in with five points and Brearana Tate pulled down nine rebounds for the Red Devils.

Pendleton point guard Crissa Jackson orchestrated the Panther offense with precision, using her screens well to shed a defender to make a pass to one of her players on the wing or sending a bullet into center Myesha Broaclew, who scored 10 points, five blocks and countless rebounds.

Broaclew's control of the paint negated the play of the Red Devil front line, who were out-muscled in the middle. This forced Avon Park into a one-shot scenario, as Broaclew cleaned up on the glass.

Daley concurs that her team has to get better handling the ball, but also agreed that one or two players can't win a game on their own.

"You can't win on individual talent alone," Daley said. "That kind of play isn't going to get you anywhere.

"There are a few players that are trying to do too much or holding the ball too long. They have to get the other four players involved for us to be successful."

The pain of the loss didn't linger long, as the Red Devils were back in action on Tuesday against Class 4A-District 10 foe Hardee. For results, see Thursday's Highlands Today.

BOYS SOCCER: Sebring 1, Okeechobee 1

OKEECHOBEE - Freshman Elisha Klatt scored Sebring's lone goal as the Blue Streak boys soccer team remained unbeaten on the road with a 1-1 tie against Okeechobee in a non-district meeting on Monday.

The Streaks, whose record now sits at 4-4-1 overall, welcome Braden River to Firemen's Field at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.