By JASON KING
Leader sports writer
The Cabot Lady Panthers had a tough weekend at the Russellville tournament on Saturday. Cabot was eliminated during pool play, but did manage a split game with Springdale. Despite the disappointing outcome, Lady Panthers coach Terri Williams believes that the young squad is headed in the right direction.
“We just didn’t hit aggressively, we were a little inconsistent,” Williams said. “I think if we are patient and give these girls some time to learn we will be okay. We have three sophomores who will be great hitters once they learn to let loose and get aggressive.”
Cabot lost its first match of the tournament to Alma 25-18 and 25-9. In match two, the Lady Panthers fell to Fayetteville 25-6 and 25-19.
Against Springdale, the Lady Panthers dropped the first game 25-14, but rallied to win the second game 25-18.
In their final match against Lonoke, the Lady Jackrabbits repeated a win over Cabot earlier in the week, and took the win 25-10 in both games. That match eliminated the Lady Pan-thers from the tournament.
Junior Kelli Lowry was the big scorer for the Lady Panthers, with senior Mallory Morgan leading the team in assists.
“Mallory has been a great leader for us,” Williams said. “She is always alert, and she has a strong presence out on the court. Kelli has really done a great job scoring-wise, she attacks the ball very aggressively.”
Williams points to Lowry as an example of the difference one year of experience can make.
“Just last year, Kelli was a sophomore, and wasn’t always attacking,” Williams said. “Now she is one of our strongest hitters, so it takes a little time for these girls to get that confidence level up. We just have to keep getting them court time to get that experience, so they can improve and learn the game better.”
The Lady Panthers will make their next tournament appearance this Saturday at ASU in Jonesboro.
They will finally get conference play underway next week. The short AAAAA-East conference schedule begins on Sept. 29 when the Lady Panthers travel to Mountain Home.
