The Pinckneyville Lady Panthers season came to an end Monday night, as they fell to conference foe Sparta in the first round of regional play, 61-48.
Despite having topped the Lady Bulldogs twice in the regular season, Pinckneyville was unable to overcome strong second and third-quarter performances.
Both teams opened up cold on the offensive side of the ball, with Sparta's Amayla Henry knocking down a layup two minutes into the first.
Caitlyn Anderson ended Pinckneyville's early scoring drought, knocking down a mid-range shot to tie the game at two halfway through the first.
Sparta managed to regain the lead, 2-4, later in the first on a basket from Maddie Ethington, but that would be the extent of their first-quarter offense. Megan Breslin closed out the first for Pinckneyville, tying up the game with a pair of makes from the charity stripe with less than a minute in the first, tying the game at four heading into the second.
The Lady Panthers took their first lead of the game a little over a minute into the second quarter, as Raygan Yates found Kiya Hagene for a layup in transition.
But, that would prove to be Pinckneyville's last lead of the game as Sparta started to heat up on offense.
Henry knocked down a three from the wing to give the Lady Bulldogs the lead back, 7-6 and spark a 7-0 run as Danielle Dodson followed up with a pair of baskets.
Yates responded with a three from the wing to cut the Sparta lead to just two, 11-9. She knocked down a mid-range jumper shortly after, responding to another Sparta basket to keep within two.
Sparta extended the lead afterwards, knocking down a three and layup as they jumped out 18-11 late in the second.
After another bucket from Yates, the Lady Bulldogs continued to pull away, scoring five unanswered as a pair of free throws gave them double-digit lead, 23-13, with just under a minute left in the half.
Hagene cut the lead back down to single digits, knocking down a three-pointer with 13 seconds left in the quarter as Pinckneyville headed into halftime behind, 23-16.
Both teams traded baskets to open the third before a three-point play from Dodson gave the Lady Bulldogs a 30-20 lead less than three minutes into the quarter.
A free throw from Breslin and Yate's second three of the game pulled Pinckneyville back within single-digits, 30-24, but Sparta maintained control.
The Lady Bulldogs closed out the quarter on a 12-5 run, scoring the last five points of the quarter to take a 42-29 lead into the fourth.
Spara extended its lead to 50-36 midway through the fourth. Pinckneyville made one final push, cutting the lead to single digits, 53-44, with Mayci Doerflein converting on a putback with a little over two minutes left to play.
But, Sparta's defense locked down to close out the game, as they took a 58-44 lead a little over a minute to play, proving to be enough to cruise to a win in the first round of regional play.
