Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

LEESBURG, GA – The Sumter County High School girls basketball team (SCHS) tried to put an end to its three game losing steak to start the season when the Lady Panthers traveled down U.S. Highway 19 on Friday, December 9 to Leesburg to take on the Lee County Lady Trojans (LC). However, the same things that have plagued the Lady Panthers in their previous games, turnovers and cold shooting, plagued them again in this contest and it led to a 51-30 defeat at the hands of LC.

The loss puts the Lady Panthers at 0-4 on the season.

Freshman forward Lauren Harris led the Lady Panthers in scoring with 11 points, sophomore guard D’Eria Clark scored eight and freshman guard Kamiyah Barron chipped in five points in the losing cause.

SCHS struggled in the first half and trailed LC 25-12 at halftime.

Over the first few minutes of the third quarter, both teams traded baskets, but Clark capped off a 4-0 run by the Lady Panthers on a steal and a fast break basket, making the score 28-21 in favor of the Lady Trojans.

However, for the remainder of the third and into the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, SCHS was outscored 8-4 by the Lady Trojans before LC senior guard Janaryia Maddox drained a three pointer from the top of the key to give the Lady Trojans a 39-25 lead, prompting SCHS Head Coach Sherri Harris to call a timeout with 5:33 left in the contest.

However, cold shooting from the field and turnovers continued to plague the Lady Panthers for the remainder of the game. As a result, the Lady Trojans (3-3) went on a 12-5 run over the final five minutes and handed the Lady Panthers a 51-30 defeat.

Maddox led the Lady Trojans with 20 points, senior guard Kennedy Snead poured in 19 and junior Jazmirra McClendon scored 10 in the winning cause.

The Lady Panthers will try once again to earn their first victory of the season when they travel down to Tifton on Friday, December 16 to take on the Lady Blue Devils of Tift County. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m.