There were no opening-night jitters for the Warren County High School Lady Pioneers, who soundly defeated Grundy County's Lady Yellow Jackets, 60-26, Thursday afternoon in the Russell Barnett Tip-Off Classic in Tullahoma.
Denying Grundy County anything but a hint of an inside shot with their zone defense, Warren County appeared immune to the Lady Yellow Jackets D and scored with impunity.
Ahead at the half, 32-17, a last second 3-point buzzer-beater by Lady Pioneer Jayden Smith just put icing on the cake as the Lady Pioneers were effective both in the paint and dialing long distance. Warren County was able to distribute the basketball well and nine players totaled points in the scoring column. High scorer was Lady Pioneer Elsa Eckenrod with 13 points.
"For the season's first official game, we showed potential," said Warren County head coach Shea Panter. "We still have some work to do, but are working on our kill mentality to finish the game. I think we did it."
Also adding hoops for Warren County were Rylan Moore with 10 points, Emily Nikkola with 8, Callie Cathcart, Anna Bain and Jayden Smith all hit for 7 points, Rae Anna Hodges scored 4 points, Megan Patch had 3 and Marah Wannamaker scored 1 point.
The Lady Pioneers played their second game last night against Franklin County. Results were not available at press time.