PIKE COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) – In Pikeville, it’s get-back time.

The Pikeville girl’s basketball team is preparing for the second half of the season after falling one win short of the state All “A” Classic championship on Sunday.

“At the end of the day we want to be competitors and get back in the gym,” Lady Panther’s head coach Kristy Orem said. “Four weeks from today, I hope to be playing in the district championship.”

While there are no moral victories as a Panther, Pikeville’s state All “A” run gave the squad a chance to look in the mirror.

“I feel like towards the end of the game, we slowed down and stopped playing our game,” senior guard Trinity Rowe said about the loss to Holy Cross. “We let [Holy Cross] dictate what we did. In the future, I think we should focus on playing our game and letting nobody stop that.”

One of Pikeville’s vocal leaders Kyera Thornsbury says the team’s energy is what the Lady Panthers will focus on for the rest of the season.

“It all goes back to energy with us,” Thornsbury said. “If I have to get six rebounds, I will get six rebounds. If I have to score 20 points, I score 20 points. I don’t care if I am playing the one, two, three, four or five spot. I’ll do what helps us win. I know everybody else on the team does too.”

“I know there is still work to be done,” Orem said. “When I say there is work to be done, it is not really about the work to be done as far as basketball. It is about that confidence and that dog mentality at the end of the game.”

However, with a team full of veterans on their last run, this group also hopes to have fun while heading towards the finish line.

“I always tell the girls that they are not going to remember ball games and scores of ball games. They are going to remember the time they have spent together. I want to make sure I do a good job of letting them have fun and enjoy each other,” Orem said.

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