Russellville’s 56-42 win at Todd Central Friday featured triple good news for the Lady Panthers as the season nears an end.
First, the district win secured the number three seed for the RHS girls in the upcoming district tournament. That means Coach Calvin Head’s team will not have to play homestanding Franklin-Simpson in the district tournament. Coach David Clark’s Lady Cats are 6-0 in the district.
Instead RHS will go against number two seed Logan County, the three-time defending district champion. Coach Finley Baird’s Lady Cougars have beaten Russellville twice, but both games have been fairly close.
Second, this was the Lady Panthers’ third win in their last four games, running their record to 9-17 after a 6-16 start.
Third, the win over Todd showcased the return of senior star Loreal Cheaney at full speed. She missed eight games in late December/early January with an injury; seven of them were losses. Friday she scored 26 points, 13 of them in the fourth quarter. When the Lady Rebels made a run late in the game, Cheaney scored seven quick points, five of them coming from her two consecutive steals.
Russellville led the Lady Rebels 17-9 and 26-20 at the first two stops, but Coach Steven McGhee’s Todd team cut the margin to two in the third quarter. The Lady Panthers got it going again and led 37-27 going into the final period.
Deshale LeBlanc hit two free throws, and Cheaney banked in a shot to make the margin 14 at 41-27.
Amy Brumfield led a fourth-quarter mini-comeback for the Lady Rebels, but Cheaney hit a shot, pulled off an immediate steal, and got the ball to LeBlanc for a layup to make the lead 49-33.
Brumfield put together a 3-point play, Paige Rager scored on a rebound shot, and Bailey Conquest scored to cut the margin to nine before Cheaney took over for good.
Junior TauRhea Hassel gave Russellville a lift. She was second in scoring to Cheaney with 8 points. LeBlanc scored 6, Addie Hendley 5, Gabbi Poirier and Sariana Allen 4 each, and Victoria Day 3 for the winners.
Conquest scored 14 and Alexis O’Daniel 13 to lead Todd Central, which fell to 6-19 overall and 0-6 in the district.