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Pelham’s scoring duo of Karma Wynn and Tee King led the way for the Panthers offense as they defeated rival Helena to keep pace in the area standings. (For the Reporter/Jeremy Raines)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HELENA – Coming off a dominant win over Springville on Friday, Jan. 19 led by 21 points from Karma Wynn and 16 points from Tee King, the Pelham Panthers kept rolling with a 49-23 win over the Helena Huskies on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at Helena High School.

The win keeps Pelham in the race for the regular season area crown after Briarwood’s 3-0 start to area play. The Panthers and Lions will square off in the area finale on Monday, Jan. 29 after Pelham and Helena square off again on Friday, Jan. 26 at Pelham High School.

After their big nights against Springville, Wynn and King continued to dictate the tempo for the Panthers’ offense as they have all season long. The duo combined for all eight of Pelham’s first quarter points.

Helena scored five points in response during a low-scoring quarter for both teams, but crucially, that kept it a one-possession game after the first quarter.

However, it wouldn’t stay that way for long as Pelham reached its second gear on both ends of the court.

The Panthers offense scored 14 points in the second quarter as Wynn, King, Ally Barfield and Gerren Ingram all found the bottom of the net. King added five more points to her first-half total, and Wynn scored four points in the second.

On the opposite end, Pelham held Helena to just one basket from the field and three more points before halftime to take a 22-8 lead into the locker room.

The pressure kept coming from the Panthers’ hot hands, and just like the first half, it was Wynn and King doing most of the damage.

Wynn scored seven points and King had six points to take both of them into double-figures, which helped Pelham score 18 points in the third quarter.

Helena found some success on the free throw line to add seven points to their total, but the Panthers still led 40-18 going into the fourth quarter.

The tensions between the two rivals didn’t lessen in the final quarter despite Pelham’s 22-point lead.

The teams were tightly matched down the stretch as Brook Kelley impacted the game for the Huskies with six fourth-quarter points to counter the Panthers’ balanced attack.

In the end, Pelham won the fourth quarter 9-8 to take a 23-point victory back home ahead of the teams’ next showdown in three days’ time.

Wynn and King tied for the game-high with 17 points apiece, while Wynn added six steals to her stat-line. In addition, Barfield had six points off a pair of three-pointers and Alayna Noble scored five points.

Kelley led the Huskies with seven points after her six-point fourth quarter.

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