LONDON — Entering the year with expectations of fielding one of the best teams in school history, the Pineville Lady Lions have done nothing to temper those hopes in the season’s opening week as they built on wins on Leslie County and Cumberland Gap, Tenn., earlier in the week by knocking off defending 12th Region champ Mercer County 58-39 on Saturday morning in the first game of the Lisa Collins Classic at South Laurel High School.
“Mercer is a really good program with a great history. Being able to compete and beat a good team like that is a big morale booster for us and should give us a lot of confidence,” Pineville coach Elgie Green said.
Senior guard Nadine Johnson scored 23 to lead the 3-0 Lady Lions on offense while also providing a big spark on a defense that caused Mercer trouble most of the day.
“Our defense played pretty well tonight. We missed assignments a couple of times, but we executed our gameplan well for the most part,” Green said. “They tried to play us man but couldn’t. They went to the zone, and the big for us against a zone is being patient. Nadine stepped up and hit a couple of 3s. Her confidence is building. We hadn’t been patient a few times in our earlier games and felt we had to score in four or five seconds.”
Rachel Howard and Ava Arnett chipped in with 14 and 12 points, respectively, for Pineville.
Anna Drakedord led Mercer with 23 points. Sara Dunn chipped in with 11.
Johnson had eight points in the first quarter and Howard added four as Pineville grabbed a 15-6 lead. Mercer fought back to within two behind Dunn and Drakeford before the Lions turned the game again with defense. Arnett and Howard each scored five points in the period as the lead grew to 32-21 by the break.
Mercer got as close as 10, at 42-32, after three quarters before Pineville pulled away once again in the final period.
The Lady Lions returns to action on Dec. 12 at home against Clay County.
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Pineville (58) — Nadine Johnson 23, Ava Arnett 12, Malley Smith 5, Rachel Howard 14, Madison Johnson 4.
Mercer County (39) — Anna Drakeford 23, Sara Dunn 11, Kate Carlton 5.
Mercer County 6 15 11 7 — 39
Pineville 15 17 10 16 — 58
