Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – The Pelham Panthers earned a bounce-back 65-33 win in a county battle on the road at the Calera Eagles, but for sophomore standout Tee King, the game meant a little bit more.

King surpassed 1,000 points for her Pelham career with a 25-point performance against the Eagles on Tuesday, Jan. 30 to add another achievement to her resume as an underclassman.

18 of those points came in the second half as the Panthers pulled away for the win.

Both offenses started out strong and combined for 25 points in the first quarter. Karma Wynn took command of the Pelham offense early with nine points during the opening eight minutes.

Calera posted 11 points in the opening quarter thanks to a balanced attack and trailed the Panthers by four at the start of the second.

Pelham’s defense was improved from there and limited the Eagles to just one basket from the field and six points total in the second quarter.

On the other end of the floor, the Panthers kept the offensive pressure going to build out its lead.

After scoring a basket in the first quarter, King added five more points to her total in the second. Wynn and Alayna Noble each had four of Pelham’s 15 points during the second quarter.

That team effort on offense put the Panthers up 29-17 at the halftime break.

Pelham only dialed up the scoring from there as King exploded for a big third quarter. She made five field goals in the third and had 12 points during that span.

In all, the Panthers outscored Calera 22-7 in the third quarter, which gave the visitors a commanding 51-24 lead going into the fourth.

Pelham’s offense kept going until the end as King finished off her night with five more points in the fourth quarter and the Panthers add 16 more points to the final score.

With the ever-widening gap too great to overcome by the Eagles despite nine fourth-quarter points from the hosts, Pelham secured the 32-point win to get back in the win column.

In addition to King’s game-high 25 points, Karma Wynn dropped 17 points to get into double figures with her running-mate in the backcourt. In addition, Gerren Ingram scored seven points and Noble and Ally Barfield each had four points apiece.

Destyni Burns led Calera with eight points. Samiyah Jemison scored seven points, Tamia Fairbanks had six points and Mia Wade and Jada Blake each scored five points.

With Pelham’s regular season in the books, the 17-10 Panthers will face Helena in the semifinals of the area tournament on Friday, Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. at Briarwood Christian School with a spot in sub-regionals on the line.

Calera still has one more game remaining until its area tournament semifinal against Benjamin Russell on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 1 p.m. at Chilton County High School. The Eagles will host Chelsea on Thursday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. in their final home game of the year.