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The Pelham girls basketball team began the season with a dominant road win against Moody on Nov. 5. (For the Reporter/Larry Dancy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

MOODY – Entering the season with goals of an area championship, the Pelham girls basketball team kicked off its 2020-2021 campaign on Thursday, Nov. 5, with a dominant 59-25 road win against the Moody Blue Devils.

Pelham started fast and never looked back thanks to a combined 34 points from junior Myriah Tate and sophomore Laci Gogan. Tate posted 19 on 8-11 shooting from the field, while Gogan posted 15 points, going 7-20 from the field.

Aside from those two, Emma McKenney finished the game with eight points and added two rebounds.

The Panthers came out strong in the first quarter of the game, motivated and confident going into the game, which led to a 22-6 lead at the end of the period.

A big reason for that fast start was an 11-point opening quarter from Gogan.

In the second quarter, after a physical first quarter, Pelham was forced to play deep down its bench, which led to a more evenly played quarter.

But thanks to Tate scoring seven points in the period, the Panthers were able to maintain a strong lead of 31-17 at the half despite being outscored 11-9 in the quarter.

After making some halftime adjustments, Pelham’s defense came out in the second half and put together a lockdown effort to hold Moody to just six points, while Tate scored six more to help the Panthers outscore the Blue Devils 16-4 to take a commanding47-21 lead into the final quarter.

That effort and defensive-minded performance carried into the final period of play, as Pelham held Moody to just three points to pull away even further and complete the 59-24 victory.

Victoria West and Niles Daniel also had good opening performances with seven rebounds each, while West posted three points and Daniel five points. Savannah Scarbrough added seven points for the Panthers.

Defensively, Pelham had a total of 24 steals, eight of which came from Gogan, while Scarbrough added four.

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