Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — The South Point Lady Pointers struggled Thursday night against the Coal Grove Lady Hornets in a 61-41 defeat.
After a fairly even first quarter that ended in an 11-10 ball game, Coal Grove picked up the intensity in the second quarter en route to the Ohio Valley Conference win.
Coal Grove head coach Rick Roach was very impressed with his team’s performance, but said, “I felt like mentally, we broke down a couple times. We let our emotions take over and it’s good to play with emotion if you can control them.
“But we are working on becoming a better well rounded team offensively, defensively, and any aspect we can.”
Addi Dillow poked away a crossover for a layup and then stole a pass at midcourt for the same result. The 5-8 senior scored 11 points in the quarter and racked up 4 steals.
The Lady Pointers ±— playing their first game after two COVID shutdowns — struggled against the press and intensity of the Coal Grove defense.
South Point committed 31 turnovers on the night and were held to just one basket in the second quarter by Sarah Mitchell who scored 11 points and grabbed 7 rebounds for the Pointers in the game.
Coal Grove turned their one-point lead after the first quarter into a 16-point lead at the half, limiting South Point to just eight shot attempts in the quarter.
The Hornets continued swarming in their fullcourt press to start the third quarter and Dillow continued racking up steals. She finished the night with 10 steals and a game high 26 points.
Kaleigh Murphy also had a busy night as she collected 9 rebounds and netting 16 points for Coal Grove.
South Point matched the Hornets’ energy in the second half, however, being outscored by only 5 points in the final two periods, but the first half deficit proved to be too much to overcome in the end.
Sarah Roach led the way in scoring for the Lady Pointers with 12 points and Karmen Bruton scored 11 points.
Coal Grove improves their record to 6-1 and 4- in the OVC. The Lady Hornets will host Southeastern on Saturday.
South Point (0-1, 0-1) will wait for a reschedule against Fairland who is currently in a 14-day quarantine.
Coal Grove 11 17 18 15 = 61
South Point 10 2 16 13 = 41
COAL GROVE (6-1, 5-1): Kelsey Fraley 1 0 1-2 3, Elli Holmes 1 0 2-3 4, Addi Dillow 11 0 4-8 26, Kaleigh Murphy 6 4-4 16, Abbey Hicks 0 2 1-2 7, Rylee Harmon 1 0 1-1 3, Kenadee Keaton 0 0 0-0 0, Jaidyn Griffith 1 0 0-1 2. Totals: 216-9 13-21 61. 3-pt goals: 2. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.
SOUTH POINT (0-1, 0-1): Kaelyn Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Liz Ermalovich 0 0 0-0 0, Camillee Hall 0 1 0-2 3, Sarah Roach 1 2 4-6 12, Sarah Mitchell 5 0 1-7 11, Karmen Bruton 4 0 3-5 11, Kimrie Staley 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 15-40 8-21 41. 3-pt goals: 3. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Staley.