As the Pinecrest girls tried to rally back from an 11-point halftime deficit against league foe Scotland Tuesday in Laurinburg, Jasmine Chalmers’ performance brought to mind memories of Jennie Joy.

The spark the freshman provided during a 12-2 Patriot run was one of the few bright spots in a 39-34 loss to the Scots — the team’s fifth defeat in its last six games. The quick-of-foot guard finished with a team-high 11 points to go with three assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Coach Mike Loutzenheiser’s squad takes a record of 7-8 overall and an 0-2 mark in the Southeastern Conference into tonight’s 6 p.m. home contest against Purnell Swett. The Rams, 8-5 overall, are also seeking their first league success of the season.

The Pats miss Joy, last season’s conference player of the year, who now plays for Wake Tech. Chalmers is third on the team in scoring (5.7 points per game), second behind Keegan Lynch in assists, and leads the team in steals.

“She’s a special girl,” the Patriot coach said when discussing Chalmers after the game. “She’s going to be a player and it’s nice to envision her here for three more years after this one. I told her after the game, ‘Great job, freshman.’”

The Patriots trailed by as many as 13 points in the second period before pulling to within 28-17 at intermission. The comeback, fueled by the speed and all-around play of Chalmers, included two baskets each by Janea Williams and Felicia Painter, and one apiece by Chalmers and Dessence Waddell.

Painter’s second basket off a steal by Chalmers made it 30-29 Scots going into the fourth period. But turnovers cost the Patriots three chances to take the lead before the Scots’ Ariel Ratliff converted a three-point play. The visitors went 2-for-12 from the field the rest of the way.

“I thought we outworked them (Scotland) in the second half,” Loutzenheiser said. “The first half was a different story. It still comes down to shooting percentage and our inability to make easy ones.”

Williams finished with eight points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Ratliff led the Scots, now 10-4 and 2-0, with 10 points. Both teams had trouble protecting the ball, combining for 65 turnovers, 35 of them by the Patriots.

Loutzenheiser had no problem with the comparison of Chalmers’ flashes of brilliance as a first-year starting player to last season’s point guard extraordinaire.

“She’s so quick and she’s hard to guard when she’s moving north and south,” he said.

Pinecrest 4 13 12 5 — 34

Scotland 16 12 2 9 — 39

Pinecrest: Chalmers 5 1-5 11, Painter 4 0-0 9, Lynch 2 0-0 4, Williams 4 0-2 8, Braswell 0 0-0 0, Fairley 0 0-0 0, Z. Thomas 0 0-0 0, M. Thomas 0 0-0 0, Waddell 1 0-1 2, Jones 0 0-0 0 Totals 16 1-8 34.

Scotland: A. Ratliff 3 4-11 10, Monley 4 0-3 9, Dockery 0 3-4 3, Deberry 3 0-3 6, S. Ratliff 0 1-2 1, Campbell 1 0-0 2, Jamison 3 0-2 8 Totals 14 8-25 39.

Three-point goals: (P) 1 (Painter); (S) 3 (Jamison 2, Monley).

Contact Charlie Bergmann at cbergmann@ nc.rr.com.