Wildcats end season at Pekin

PACKWOOD ? The Wildcats forced a turnover on Pekin?s opening possession and scored the first points of Tuesday?s playoff game against the Panthers, but Pekin quickly tied it back up, took the lead and ran away with a 68-38 victory, ending Columbus? season in the second round.

?We?re not satisfied with how this season ended,? said Columbus head coach Kasey Keltner. ?I?m just looking forward to seeing what we do in the offseason to get better now. I?m excited to see how much better our returning seniors can get. Being able to score is something this program hasn?t always had, so having our leading scorers returning is great. There are some other young girls coming up that had successful years and our JV program had a nice year, so we?ll build off that.?

Shania Boyd opened the scoring for Columbus with a layup after the teams traded turnovers. Pekin?s Beth Atwood and Sloan Reighard made back-to-back shots to give Pekin a 4-2 lead. The Panthers? run continued until late in the first quarter, when Bailey Stroud found a lane inside to make it 18-4. Kortney Orr drained a 3-pointer before the quarter ended with the Panthers holding a 24-7 lead.

After an Atwood basket to open the second quarter, Boyd found another lane inside and converted a 3-point play. The junior then followed with a conventional 3-pointer to make it 26-13 Pekin. The Wildcats would get another basket from Boyd and one from Stroud before the half ended with the Panthers on top 44-17.

Pekin?s Gwynne Wright drained a 3-pointer to open the second half and Orr answered with a layup on the ensuing possession. After a bucket from Maci Gambell of the Panthers, it was Orr again, this time from long range to make it 49-22. Pekin went on a 6-0 run before Boyd ended it with a couple of free throws. The teams traded baskets over the final 90 seconds, with Wright making the first, Boyd the second, Atwood adding in a free throw for Pekin, Maki Mendenhall making a layup and Gambell finding an open lane inside. The third quarter ended on a 3-pointer from Boyd and saw the Panthers lead 60-31.

In the final stanza, Sarah Todd picked up a couple points after a 6-0 Pekin run, and Stroud followed that up with a bucket of her own. A 3-point play from Todd was the final scoring effort of the game, as Pekin will advance to host Highland on Friday night.

Orr led the Wildcats with 14 points overall on 5-11 shooting from the floor. Boyd chipped in 11, Stroud had six, Todd collected five and Mendenhall rounded out Columbus?s scoring with two. Stroud had eight assists and four steals as well for Columbus.

Defensively, the Wildcats held Atwood to only seven points in the game.

Seniors graduating this season from the Columbus program are, in alphabetical order: Laura Mincks (5 points per game, 58 total rebounds); Kortney Orr (5.5 points per game, 99 total rebounds); Andrea Rodriguez (0.2 points per game); Kelli Roush (1 point per game, 98 total rebounds) and Sarah Todd (3.8 points per game, 125 total rebounds).