Pacelli girls defeat Webster County, snap 37-game losing streak

When Pacelli girls basketball coach Corry Black held his first team meeting for the 2017-2018 season, he wasn’t sure he would have five players to put on the court. Those concerns fortunately didn’t last long, and on Monday, Black’s team pulled off quite an achievement.

Pacelli’s 10-girl team went on the road and beat Webster County 46-41, which snapped a 37-game losing streak for the Lady Vikings. Jordyn Dawson led Pacelli with 26 points and was followed by Scout Hadley, who had 14 points.

Black, who is also the Pacelli boys coach, commended his girls for not giving in when the game wasn’t going their way.

“We had three kids with three fouls in the first half. We got down six or seven points two or three times in that game, and they just kept battling,” Black said. “They’ve been working their tails off. They overcame, and they got it done.”

Now in his second season at Pacelli, Black said the victory was a long time in the making. He thanked Marissa Stewart, who helped him coach the team last season while she was a student at Columbus State. He also lauded the efforts of current assistants J.T. Todd and Sarah Turiel.

Black said Todd and Turiel have put in a great deal of work with this team, making Monday’s victory a sweet one for the coaches and players alike.

“Our girls see that when you put in the work that things can happen,” Black said. “I think we can move forward and build something special over here. All we needed was to get over the hump.”

Of course, Black and the Lady Vikings won’t be satisfied with just one victory.

Pacelli will be back in action Friday to face Atlanta International. Black stressed that his players needed to return to practice with just as much drive as they had during Monday’s game.

The victory over Webster County was a step in the right direction for the Pacelli program, but as far as Black is concerned, a winning streak sure would be sweeter.

“You can’t get comfortable with winning that one game,” Black said. “You’ve got to go back out there, go back to work and try to do it again.”

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Pacelli girls defeat Webster County, snap 37-game losing streak."