The middle school Lady Cougars split a pair of games last Tuesday evening at Cougar Gym as they played host to Caverna Middle.

In the opener, the seventh-grade girls never trailed as they won 24-21. In the eighth-grade game, Caverna’s Madison Faulkner scored 24 points as the Lady Colonels downed Grayson County 42-31.

SEVENTH-GRADE GAME

The Lady Cougars got off to a quick start, scoring the first seven points. Sarah Pierce’s second three-pointer gave the Lady Cougars a 10-2 lead at the 1:26 mark of the first period, and they lead 10-4 heading into the second.

Faulkner scored the first five points of the second quarter to bring the Lady Colonels to within a point of the lead, 10-9 at the 3:23 mark, but Pierce closed out the scoring with her third three-pointer of the night and Grayson County took a 13-9 lead into the intermission.

The Lady Cougars upped their lead to six points three times in the third period, the last time coming on a pair of Jodi Decker free throws with 55.6 seconds left that made the score 19-13. But the Lady Colonels scored the last four points of the period to pull to within two points, 19-17 heading into the fourth quarter.

Caverna’s Kiera Kirk put in a rebound basket at the 4:56 mark to tie the score at 19-19, but Kiara Brooks answered with a three-pointer to put the Lady Cougars back on top 22-19 with 3:36 left.

Caverna’s Andrea Davis scored at the 3:13 mark to make it a one-point game, but Brooks closed out the scoring with a rebound basket with 2:28 left. Faulkner had two free throws at the 1:28 mark but missed both opportunities and neither team scored the rest of the way.

Faulkner led the Lady Colonels with 12 points. Pierce finished with 11 points and added five rebounds and six steals. Brooks scored five points and pulled down eight rebounds. Decker and Michaela Stinson both scored four points to round out the Lady Cougar scoring. Grace White did not score, but led the team on the boards with nine rebounds.

EIGHTH-GRADE GAME

Faulkner is a seventh-grader who also plays on the eighth-grade team, and both times these two teams have met, she has performed better with the eighth-grade girls around her. Faulkner hit a pair of threes in the first half and scored 16 of her 24 points as the Lady Colonels raced out to a 15-point lead, 26-11 at the break.

The Lady Cougars held the early lead after scoring the first four points, but Faulkner’s rebound basket with a little over a minute to play in the opening period gave the Lady Colonels a 9-8 lead and they never trailed again.

The Lady Colonels led by 12 points, 33-12 as the fourth quarter began, but baskets by Raven Shelton and Maddie Stewart opening the fourth quarter cut the margin to eight points, 33-25 with 4:31 left to play. But the Lady Cougars would get no closer.

Stewart recorded a double-double in a losing effort. She led the Lady Cougars with 13 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. She also had an assist and led the team with five steals. Shelton scored eight points and added seven rebounds.

Courtney Vincent had six points, while Sloane Embry and Jessica Johnson had two each to close out the scoring.