COAL GROVE - And the grind continues.

The grueling Ohio Valley Conference race remained a game-to-game battle as the Chesapeake Lady Panthers held off the Coal Grove Lady Hornets 36-34 Thursday.

"We got out on them early and just grinded it out," Chesapeake coach John McClung said. "It was a hard-fought OVC game, just like all of them."

Sara Rucker had 13 points and 10 rebounds while Noelle Wood added 8 points and 10 rebounds as the Lady Panthers improved to 8-6 and remained second in the OVC at 4-1.

Chelsea Markins had 21 points including four 3-pointers to pace Coal Grove which slid to 8-5 and 2-3 in the OVC.

"(Veronica) Perko and (Candace) Dickerson did the best they could on a player like Markins. She's pretty good," McClung said.

Rucker had 5 points as Chesapeake took a 10-7 lead in the first quarter.

The Lady Panthers extended the lead to 22-16 despite 5 points by Markins.

Coal Grove cut the deficit to 30-28 after the third quarter behind 8 points by Markins.

Markins hit a 3-point to get Coal Grove within 36-34. With seven seconds left, the Lady Hornets were unable to get off a shot and Chesapeake was able to run out the clock.

Chesapeake101286-36

Coal Grove79126-34

CHESAPEAKE (8-6, 4-1):

Candace Dickerson 0 1 0-0 3, Veronica Perko 1 0 0-0 2, Brittany Boyle 2 0 2-2 6, Noelle Wood 4 0 0-0 8, Alysson Baise 2 0 0-2 4, Sara Rucker 6 0 1-2 13. Totals: 15

(1)

3-8

36. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 31 (Rucker 10, Wood 10). Assists: 12 (Dickerson 4). Steals: 1. Blocked shots: 1 (Wood). Turnovers: 14.

COAL GROVE (8-5, 2-3):

Samantha Zornes 0 0 2-2 2, Holli Swarts 1 0 3-4 5, Shana Klaiber 0 0 0-0 0, Tracy Tackett 1 0 2-2 4, Chelsea Markins 3 4 3-4 21, Samantha Hall 1 0 0-0 2, Tiffany Wallace 0 0 0-0 0, Brittany Harrison 0 0 0-2 0, Maggie Young 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 6

(4)

10-14

34. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Lovejoy, Tackett.