The Lady Pioneers had a little trouble starting their offense Tuesday night, visiting the Lady Wildcats in Tullahoma. A quick jump start by Lady Pioneer Megan Patch and Elsa Eckenrod -- Patch tickled the twine with two treys and Eckenrod dialed in outside and in -- was enough to get the ball rolling.
Down, 17-13, after the first quarter the Warren County (7-4) upped the defensive amps shutting out the Lady Wildcats while scoring 15 points to get the upper hand, 28-17, at the break and they never looked back taking home a 58-48 victory.
“I think last night was a game where we played down to the other team’s level. We talked about not taking them for granted. We talked about coming to compete. We saved ourselves in the second quarter by holding them to zero,” said Warren County head coach Shea Panter. “I think Anna Bain played well.  We also shot free throws better than we did against Coffee. As we move into Christmas break, I hope we catch more momentum than we had last night to be prepared for district play.”
Tullahoma tried to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter with Lady Wildcat Julia Duncan scoring 15 of her 19 game-high points in the last eight minutes while the defense started to press, but Warren County withstood the surge. Tyra Wright’s battle for the boards and Rae Ann Hodges, making 7 points in the fourth quarter, were paramount to the Pioneers hanging onto their lead.
The Lady Pioneers also won the battle at the free-throw line, hitting 14-of-20 for 70 percent while Tullahoma went 11-of-17 for 67 percent. Warren County’s Anna Bain was a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, scoring 11 total points.
Lady Pioneer Emily Mikkola quarterbacked the team with precision, taking advantage of any open lanes to work inside the paint for most of the second half as Eckenrod led the Lady Pioneer scoring with 13 points.
Warren County yet again showed its ability to distribute the basketball well, even under pressure as 10 players posted points to the total.
Also scoring for the Lady Pioneers were Hodges with 9 points, Patch 8, Wright 7, Marah Wannamaker 4, Jaydon Smith and Bri Young both scored 2 points each and Callie Cathcart and Mikkola both hit for 1 point.
The Lady Pioneers faced DeKalb County on Thursday in Smithville. Results were not available at press time.