By REID TUCKER
Paxton’s girls basketball team took control of its immediate post-season destiny with a solid 40-29 victory over fierce rival Ponce de Leon on the night of Jan. 8
The Lady Cats extended their winning record to 15-3 with the win, locking in their position as the number-one seed for the upcoming district tournament to be played in a few weeks’ time at Laurel Hill. The Lady Pirates, on the other hand played a tight first half – and an especially tight second quarter in which neither team scored more than five points – against the visitors, but dropped behind in the third quarter, allowing Paxton to assume a 10-point lead that never really went away. Though both squads did the majority of their scoring at the stripe in the fourth quarter, Paxton’s advantage remained intact and actually increased by one point thanks to good shooting from scoring leader Katie Sebastian, who turned in a 17-point total in the contest.
Paxton was active from the arch in the first quarter, with Sebastian, Kristen Corbett and Faith Elmore all putting in 3-pointers in what was a fast-paced opener to the mostly close game. Ponce’s Devyn Butorac (11 points to lead PDL in scoring) had a pair of twos and another brace of trays in the first period that ended with Paxton ahead by a tenuous 14-13. Both teams made only two shots apiece in the strangely quiet, more methodically paced second quarter, though neither side had too much of a break when it came to attempting to score. Ponce was 2-for-12 and Paxton went 2-for-9, leaving the visiting squad with a still narrow 20-18 halftime lead.
As slow as the second quarter was, the start of the second half was equally as explosive. It was simply a disaster for Ponce de Leon, as Paxton utilized some excellent passes and pump-fakes to turn a tightly guarded basket one minute into a wide open net the next. All told, Sebastian and Cortni McKee hammered the midrange and inside, respectively, to boost the Lady Cats into a 32-22 lead and a 12-point quarter compared to a paltry four points from the combined efforts of PDL’s Taylor West and Micala Fisanick.
Both teams scored seven points in the fourth quarter, and all but two came at the foul line. That solitary layup from Ponce’s Madison Powell, who scored just that one time in the game, but what a layup it was: a pass from Sebastian was picked off and returned downcourt for an easy 2-pointer that really put the home crowd on its feet. Nevertheless, the Lady Cats continued to chip away at any resistance on the part of the Lady Pirates as Sebastian went repeatedly to the stripe and came back with free throws to the good, giving Paxton plenty of time to hold the ball, kill the clock and collect the win.
