The Lady Panthers came away with an important win Friday night, knocking off the Maryville Lady Rebels in overtime.

Lenoir City had lost at Maryville earlier in the season by a score of 42-30, but Friday they were able to put together a strong run in the fourth quarter to force overtime and come away with the upset win.

The game was close in the first two quarters, and Maryville led 20-19 at the half.

In the third quarter, though, the Lady Rebels began to pull away. Maryville held the Lady Panthers to just five points in the quarter while scoring 12 of their own.

Starting the fourth quarter Maryville held a 32-24 advantage.

However, the Lady Panthers turned up the heat defensively in the fourth quarter, holding the Lady Rebels to just four points.

Junior guard Lindsey Jones dropped in four in the quarter, senior Kara Steil two and both junior Katie Smartt and Haley Morris struck from beyond the arc.

With seconds left Morris drove down the lane, attempting the would-be winning basket but failed to convert, sending the game into overtime.

In the overtime period Maryville's Leila Bangash, who scored a game-high 19 points, scored four. She was the only Lady Rebels player to score in overtime, though.

Lenoir City got a pair of two-point shots in the quarter, one coming from Morris and the other from senior forward Teela Thomas, who was fouled on the conversion.

It was Thomas' free throw attempt that meant the difference in the game as she made the shot to give the Lady Panthers a one-point advantage in the overtime period.

The win pushed Lenoir City back to .500, 4-4, in district play after back-to-back losses heading into the contest.

Prior to the two losses Lenoir City had won eight of nine to tie last season's win total.

Friday's win pushed them over the mark as they improved to 13-7. The team is one win from tying their district win total from the 2011-2012 season, but will face district-leading  Farragut Tuesday.
The boys did not fare so well for Lenoir City, falling 65-54.

Maryville held the team's leading scorer, Jordan Hall, to just nine points in the game.

Only sophomore Jaylond Woods managed to break double-digits for Lenoir City, scoring 12.

The game was close at the end of one, with Maryville leading 16-12, but quickly swayed in favor of the Rebels.

At the half, Lenoir City trailed 31-23, and by the end of the third the score stood at 49-35 in favor of Maryville.

The fourth quarter was the only in which the Panthers out scored the Rebels, 19-16, but Maryville was never really challenged as they spent the majority of the quarter at the free throw line, knocking down 12 of 16 attempts.

Lenoir City fell to 3-5 in district play, 11-9 overall, with the loss. Farragut's boys, 8-10, sit just below the Panthers in district standings.

The teams travel to Farragut at 6 p.m. Monday. They will host Heritage at 6 p.m. Friday.

Both the boys and girls beat Heritage earlier in the season. This will be the first meeting of the season between the Panthers and the Farragut Admirals.