By LEIKE ABEBE

For the Daily News

GREENVILLE — Opening the Pitt County Holiday Tournament with a matchup against undefeated Farmville Central, the Washington Lady Pam Pack fell into a hole early and never recovered, suffering a 67-18 loss on Wednesday evening.

Washington (2-6, 1-2 2A Eastern Carolina Conference) head coach Ralph Biggs was disappointed with his team’s energy at the start of the game, as Farmville Central (8-0 2A Eastern Plains Conference) forced turnover after turnover en route to building a 24-5 first-quarter lead. From there, the Pam Pack was unable to recover.

“We didn’t show a lot of effort,” Biggs said. “That’s what got us in a big hole. Against really good teams, we can’t start off the way that we did. You play quality teams every day in this tournament. Personally, Farmville Central could be one of the best teams in the state. They might be holding up a trophy at the end of the season, so even though the result wasn’t what we wanted, playing against good competition will be beneficial to our success.”

While the Pam Pack was excellent on the offensive glass, it wasn’t able to get into a rhythm on offense. The Jaguars mixed up their defensive schemes and it forced Washington to play from behind. In the end, Farmville Central performed excellently and Washington was unable to keep up.

Reagan Ruther led the Pam Pack with 5 points and Kiaira Boomer added three points. Jordan Joyner was the high scorer for the Jaguars with 14 points and Rashya Speight added 12 points.

The loss sets up Washington to face the hosts of the tournament, J.H. Rose, in the consolation bracket. The sixth-seeded Rampants lost to North Pitt in their opening round matchup. Biggs and his team will be looking to bounce back from a tough defeat.

“In the end, I’d like to see our team make some progress,” Biggs added about his teams prospects in the tournament. “We want to do our best as well and we’ll be facing a good team regardless. We want to stick to our principles and we want to be more consistent. If we can get our guard play going, we could be a really good team. This tournament will help our guards. If you practice against the best, it will help us get better.”