While the weather was warm outside Thursday night, the shooting inside the Donald "Jigger" Anderson Gym was cold, as the Piketon defeated Paint Valley 39-31.
Piketon shot only 28% from the field on 11/39-including 5/14 from the three-point arc. Paint Valley was 12/38 for 32%- including 5/11 from the arc. The difference was at the foul line, where the Lady Redstreaks cashed-in on 12/16 compared to PV's 2/6.
Piketon also won the battle of the boards, 28-19. They also forced Paint Valley into 15 turnovers as they committed 12.
Paint Valley was missing a major part of their offense as senior Lexi Woods saw her season end Tuesday, when she broke her left wrist in the first half against Huntington. Woods was averaging almost 25 points per game and was only 14 shy of the Lady Bearcats all-time scoring record, set by Molly Mahaffey.
Piketon was strong on defense, seemingly contesting every pass and shot Paint Valley attempted.
The Lady Redstreaks were led by senior guard Avery Reuter with 11 points, followed by Ally Crothers' 10 points.
Kami Crawford led Paint Valley with 8 points, while Leah McFadded added 7 before fouling out late in the game.
Piketon improves to (4-4/8-6) and Paint Valley drops to (4-4/5-9).
SCORING
Piketon 39: Avery Reuter 11, Ally Crothers 10, Brianna O'Dell 6, Grace Lightle 5, Allie Ritchie 4, Cassidy Fremont 2, Cami Alexander 1
Paint Valley 31: Kami Crawford 8, Leah McFadden 7, Caitlin Dobbins 5, Kelsey Dunn 4, Baylee Uhrig 3, Savannah Smith 2, Ahneka Campbell 2
To listen to WKKJ's play-by-play with Mike Smith and Tom Beard, go to our podcast link below. An interview with Paint Valley's Lexi Woods can also be found at the end of our broadcast within the podcast.