LEITCHFIELD -- Never trailing, the Lady Cougar eighth-graders doubled the score on the visiting Ohio County Lady Cardinals 54-27 at Cougar Gym Monday night.

Grayson County (5-1) got scoring from nine players, led by a game high 16 points from Brittany Bird as they cruised to the win.

The Lady Cougars took charge from the start, scoring the first four points of the game, then scoring the last four points of the opening quarter to expand their lead to seven points at 16-9.

Bird had 11 points to lead a second quarter blitz that saw the Lady Cougars nearly put the game out of reach. After the Lady Cardinals (1-2) had pulled to within two points at 18-16, Grayson County went on a 13-2 run that gave them a 31-18 halftime lead. The Lady Cougars scored nine straight to end the period.

Opening up the third quarter, the Lady Cougars iced things by scoring eight straight to go up 39-18 at the 4:05 mark. That made it a 17 straight points and 21-2 in nearly eight minutes of action.

Coach Chris Helm removed his starters at that point and brought in his reserves, but it made little difference as they actually expanded the lead in the final period.

Ohio County was led by Jessika Whittaker's eight points and Lindsey Embry's seven.

Bird was the only player in double figures on the night. Rebecca Meredith had eight points for the Lady Cougars, while Natoshia Clemons had six. Molly Beeler and Jessica Williams had five each, while Tara Snyder, Heather Baxter and Laura Dennis all had four. Jessica Embry had two points to complete the Lady Cougar scoring.

Grayson County will host Butler County's Lady Bears this Thursday. The 7th grade game will begin at 5:30 p.m., to be immediately followed by the eighth grade game.