By Russell Frye, For the Enquirer

The Lady Hawks had to battle from behind most of the game before winning by a final score of 47-46.

John Paul II jumped out to an early 8-3 lead midway through the first quarter as Danville struggled with the JPII pressure. The Lady Hawks settled down over the last four minutes and outscored the Lady Falcons 11-2 to take a 14-10 lead at the end of the first.

The second quarter belonged to the Lady Falcons and their pressure defense. They held Danville to four points by forcing the Lady Hawks into bad passes and bad shots, giving up just one made basket. JPII managed to score 11 points despite not shooting the ball well. The Lady Falcons led 21-18 heading into halftime.

The two teams played battled back and forth in the third quarter. Danville was able to pull even with JPII at 30 with 2:03 remaining in the quarter before the Lady Falcons scored the final three points to take a 33-30 lead into the final period.

Danville’s Kayla Compton hit a three-pointer to give the Lady Hawks their first lead of the game since the seven-minute mark of the second quarter. This was part of a 9-0 run that gave the Lady Hawks a 39-33 lead with under three minutes to go in the game.

The Lady Falcons then went on an 8-3 run powered by two Jordan Jeffries’ three-pointers to cut the Danville lead to 42-41 with 30.9 seconds remaining.

Following a JPII intentional foul, Emma Broadfoot went to the line and calmly knocked down her first two points of the night giving Danville a three-point lead and the ball. The Lady Hawks hit three more free throws to build a 47-43 lead before JPII hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it a one-point margin.

After missing five of their first six free throws in the quarter, The Lady Hawks knocked down seven of their next eight to seal the victory.

Danville was led by Jolee Cole, who just 48 hours earlier was in the hospital suffering from dehydration, as she scored a game-high 26 points. Kayla Compton added 13 points. Madison Cartee added three points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

After the game, Danville coach JJ Hill said, “I am so very proud of these young ladies for their grit and never give up attitude tonight!”

JPII had only four players score tonight. They were led by Alex Lewis who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Hannah Hall added 13, Jeffries had 11 while Stephanie Andrewjewski scored eight points and had 8 rebounds.

Area Championship Game

The area championship game will be Thursday night at 7:00 pm. Priceville and Danville will be meeting for the third time this season, with Priceville sweeping the Lady Hawks during the regular season.

The winner of Thursday night’s game with host the Sub-Regional game on Monday, February 11 while the loser will have to travel.