EWING, Va. — Four Lady Panthers scored in double-figures Tuesday as Cumberland Gap defeated Thomas Walker 68-41 for their first win of the season.
The Lady Panthers had to overcome the loss of junior guard Chelsea Fultz to gruesome injury. Early in the first quarter, Fultz came down awkwardly and broke both bones near her ankle. The game was delayed for close to half an hour while she was attended to on the court and eventually left in an ambulance.
“She’s one of our better players and you always hate to see something like that. I knew it affected us pretty bad when we went into the locker room. They all agreed they wanted to continue to play for Chelsea and they played really well,” Cumebrland Gap coach Sherrill King said. “We took care of the basketball, did what we supposed to do and finally got a win.”
Senior forward Ashley Ridgelely led a balanced Lady Panther offense with 12 points, Whitney Elliott added 11 while Chelsa Bingham and Kierstyn Carmical finished with 10 each. Danielle Caldwell, Morgan Beeler and Genna Lake all chipped in with six points apiece.
Thomas Walker was led by Marquetta Garnetts’ 12 points. Katie Daniels added seven and Madison Lake six for the Lady Pioneers.
Elliott scored seven of her points in the first quarter, Bingham and Ridegely added five each and the Lady Panthers built a 21-11 lead.
Beeler scored all six of her points in the second period and Ridgeley scored five more and by halftime the CGHS lead was up to 41-25.
“This was the best passing game we’ve had. They we play, running and pressing, we’re going to have some turnovers. But we limited those,” King said. “We had a lot of people scoring and it was coming from creating turnovers off the break.”
Carmical scored eight in the third quarter and King substituted heavily down the stretch as the Lady Panthers went on to the 27-point win.
“They’ve been working really hard and we’ve had a couple of games that I felt we had a good chance to win, but didn’t. So it was good to get one in the win column,” he added.
Cumberland Gap (1-3) hosts Chuckey-Doak Friday in a district double-header.
— — —
Cumberland Gap….. 21…20…15…12— 68
Thomas Walker…….. 11… 14….9… 7 — 41
CUMBERLAND GAP (68): Ashley Ridgeley 12, Whitney Elliott 11, Chelsea Bingham 10, Kierstyn Carmical 10, Danielle Caldwell 6, Morgan Beeler 6, Genna Lake 6, Rachel Kimbrough 3, Candace Beeler 2, Amber Craig 2, Chelsea Fultz 0, Tessa Brooks 0.
THOMAS WALKER (41): Marquetta Garnett 12, Katie Daniels 7, Madison Lake 6, Ginny Carter 4, Tessa Pittman 4, April Kolb 3, Holly Fredrickson 3, Tori Long 2, Kaitlyn Fuston 0, Whitney Jones 0.











