Ivy Shelton put in a long night for Warren Central on Tuesday.

The seventh-grader posted a 10-point effort in the Lady Dragons’ junior varsity game against visiting Russellville, then turned around and dropped in a game-high 16 points in Warren Central’s 34-32 varsity win over the Lady Panthers in the season opener for both teams.

It was Shelton’s varsity debut, but that hardly looked the case as she picked up the scoring slack for a Lady Dragons team that will have to adjust to the season-long loss of top scorer Zakoria Hill to a knee injury.

Shelton’s scoring was welcome, and particularly well-timed for Warren Central (1-0). Her two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter helped the Lady Dragons stretch out to a 34-27 lead with 4:17 to play, just enough to hold on for a two-point win as Russellville (0-1) scored the game’s final five points.

“Just trying to get her a bunch of reps and trying to get her comfortable,” Warren Central coach Joe Hood said of Shelton. “She was a player that as soon as she got out of Warren Elementary and was eligible to play, she was with us. I’m glad we have her, she’s a great girl and came up big for us tonight.”

Holding a seven-point lead after Shelton’s second 3-pointer of the fourth quarter, the Lady Dragons weathered Russellville’s comeback attempt over the last four minutes. Russellville’s Jayce Buchner got her team back within two at 34-32 with an offensive putback with 1:55 to go, but the Lady Panthers missed a chance to tie when Anastasia Dowlen didn’t connect on a pair of free throws with 1:36 to go.

Russellville still had chances, plenty of them. Warren Central misfired on a one and a bonus free-throw opportunity, and after trading turnovers the Lady Panthers worked the ball downcourt and into the paint. Russellville put up five high-percentage shots on that possession and missed them all, finally losing possession after grabbing yet another offensive rebound but turning it over on a traveling call.

The Lady Dragons again missed the front end on a bonus free-throw chance but held on as Russellville’s Buchner missed on a last-second jumper.

“It’s like I was telling the girls – I’m glad that we won, but I cannot wait for practice tomorrow,” Hood said. “And I’m glad that we have three days of practice before a Saturday game against a really good Apollo team.”

Russellville coach Shannon Booth, making her debut, said nerves played a role in the Lady Panthers’ costly misses on that crucial possession in the final minute. Like Warren Central, Booth’s team is loaded with underclassmen and even middle schoolers and it showed at times.

“That’s one thing we’re struggling with a little bit right now is that we don’t have a true scorer,” Booth said. “So it’s hard for us and we don’t have the transitions that we need to get, the layups that we need to get. It’s hard, but we’re hoping to keep working on it and we can only go up.”

Shelton helped Warren Central get off to a solid start with eight first-quarter points as the Lady Dragons pushed out to a 12-4 lead. It was a dream varsity debut for the seventh-grader, who added a co-team high six rebounds.

“Yeah, I was kind of nervous,” Shelton said. “Those girls are big and they’re fast.”

Russellville used that size to get back in the game, pounding the ball inside to frontcourt players Brookyn Ray, Carleigh Phillips and Dowlen as they got back within a basket at 16-14 heading into halftime.

Dowlen, just an eighth-grader, tallied a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Ray just missed a double-double, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds for Russellville.

Russellville 4 10 11 7 – 32

Warren Central 12 4 9 9 – 34

RHS – Ray 11, Dowlen 10, Buchner 4, Phillips 4, Whitescarver 3.

WC – Shelton 16, Johnson 6, Conner 5, Leach 4, Whitfield 2, Taylor 1.