A very young Lady Panther team struggled to score in the earlygoing of Tuesday night's opener, but came on with a late surge.  The charge wasn't enough, however, as the Lady Panthers fell at home 54-37 to Cocke County.

Of the 10 players who saw action for Lenoir City in Tuesday's game, seven of them were sophomores.  The only three upperclassmen who played were Jessica Pace, Catherine Hunley and Shannon Parks.

That youth showed, as the Lady Panthers managed only seven points in the first half and trailed 27-7 at halftime.  They hit just three of 18 shots in the first half.  "We were getting some really good shots, we were just missing them," Lenoir City Head Coach Joe Lee said after the game.
The early game jitters began to subside a bit in the third quarter as the hosts tallied 11 points, but Cocke County extended its lead to 40-18 after three.

In the fourth quarter, however, the Lady Panthers began to turn up the pressure a bit.  Chelsey Moore hit a short jumper 30 seconds into the quarter to begin a 16-2 run that brought the Lady Panthers to within eight, at 42-34.  During that run, the Lady Panthers forced seven turnovers and scored off all but two of them.

"I wanted to press a lot more," Lee said, but explained that it was tough to press a lot when his team wasn't scoring.  "I felt we could make some turnovers."
His team was able to do just that, but it wasn't enough as the Lady Roosters pulled away in the last four minutes of the game.

Moore and Tyler Powers, a pair of sophomores, led the Lady Panthers with 10 points each.  Shannon Depen paced the Lady Roosters with 16 points and Jalese Pruitt followed with 11.

The Lady Panthers (0-1) will look to rebound when they return to action Tuesday at Sequoyah.  
Game time is set for 6 p.m.