By ANN THARP
Special to The Leader
The Cabot Lady Panthers (10-6, 1-1) picked up their first win in the 7A/6A East on Tuesday night at home, defeating the Marion Lady Patriots (8-4, 1-1) 56-43.
The Lady Panthers outscored Marion 11-5 in the second quarter to lead 24-19 at the half and finished strong, outscoring the Lady Patriots 18-11 in the final quarter.
“The only thing better than 0-1 in conference is to be 1-1 in conference,” said Cabot assistant coach Charles Ruple. “Everyone is pretty even in the conference, I think. We started three sophomores, shook off a couple of minor injuries and played well. We had two girls in a lot of foul trouble and neither one fouled out. Anna Sullivan did a very good job. She was one away from a double double with nine rebounds and 22 points. Rachel Allgood played a really good game for us. Alyssa Hamilton had 11 rebounds along with six points and two blocked shots.”
The first quarter was evenly played with the score tied 9-9 with 3:02 to go, and the quarter ended 14-13 in favor of the visitors.
The Lady Panthers came out strong in the second quarter, holding Marion scoreless for the first seven minutes, but allowing the Lady Patriots five points in the final minute of the quarter. The third quarter was almost a repeat of quarter number one, but this time Cabot had the 14-13 edge with Sullivan leading the way with six points.
Cabot started the fourth quarter with a quick basket by Danielle McWilliams and led 40-32. Raven Morrow hit a three-point basket with 2:30 remaining in the game to pull Marion within three points at 44-41. Cabot answered with CoCo Calhoon sinking two free throws, Sullivan adding a basket and Sullivan with two free throws on the next possession to bring the lead back up to 50-41.
After the double bonus went into effect for the Lady Panthers, they closed out the game by hitting 6 of 10 free throws.
Dahlia Bell scored for the Lady Patriots with 6.5 seconds left to set the final score of 56-43.
Sullivan led Cabot with 22 points, Calhoun had 10 points, and McWilliams added nine points.
