MAGNET COVE -- Bigelow shot 38 percent from the floor as the visiting Lady Panthers rolled to a 52-23 victory over Magnet Cove Friday night.
Magnet Cove (5-5, 1-2 2A-5) turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter as Bigelow (7-0, 3-0) rolled to a 14-3 lead in the opening quarter.
"I thought Magnet Cove has got some girls that pushed the pace," said Bigelow head coach Russell Paulley.
"They play really hard. In the first half, I thought we started slow, and I thought they started with more energy than we did. We ended up turning it around there halfway through the first and played pretty well the rest of the way."
The host Lady Panthers could not get their offense rolling, putting up just three buckets while allowing 18 for a 32-12 Bigelow lead at the break.
"I think coming in they thought it would be a lot faster paced," said Magnet Cove head coach Jeremy Hall.
"We're so young we kind of get intimidated on big games. We just kind of played really scared. We didn't look to attack. We let them dictate the tempo. We didn't really push the tempo like we wanted to."
The visiting Lady Panthers put up 20 points in the second half, while allowing 11 to secure the win.
Alexis Hill led Bigelow with 13 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Jill Nutt put up 12 points with two rebounds and two assists.
"Alexis is a senior. We get a lot of leadership from her, and tonight she played really, really well," Paulley said. "
Jill puts up a lot of points for us every game, but we have a lot of threats around the floor. On most nights, you never know who might show up and be big for us."
Chloe Buie led the team with four steals, and Madison Starks led the team in rebounding with five.
Karsen Davis led Magnet Cove with eight points with two rebounds.
"She's a freshman that we've got playing with us," Hall said. "I've got several sophomores and several juniors that I really depend on every night, which is great about having a lot of depth because you never know who's going to show up and who doesn't. That takes the pressure off of them, but night in and night out, she's usually one of those that shows up to play."
Emma Golden and Jamie Kelley led the team with four rebounds each.
Bigelow travels to Maumelle Charter (2-5, 0-2) on Dec. 14 for its next game. Magnet Cove hosts Cutter Morning Star (2-7).
Sports on 12/09/2018