The heat in the T. K. Stone Middle School gym was matched by the Lady Cougars on Monday as they won all three games of the opening day of the Elizabethtown Summer Shootout.

With the temperature and the humidity high, the Cougars went into the unair-conditioned gym and beat Taylor County36-23 in the first game. The JV girls then mounted a comeback against John Hardin for a 34-30 win.

Later that afternoon, the varsity moved to the more comfortable Morningside Elementary School gym. The air-conditioning there did nothing to cool them off, though, as they dispatched Franklin County by a 31-27 score.

TAYLOR COUNTY

It's hard to understand how a team could be so cold at the start of the game when it was so hot in the gym, but that's the way it was for Grayson County in the first half.

The Lady Cougars did not score until nearly four minutes into the game. They did not score their first basket until nearly five minutes into the game.

With just 1:15 to play in the first half, Grayson County trailed by 14 points, 18-4, with Molly Beeler's layup at the 13:15 mark being the only field goal. A pair of layups, one by Tasha Farris and the other by Jara Vega Velez, cut the deficit to 10 points at the half.

As play began in the second half, Head Coach Roy King took the gloves off and had his team press the ball from end to end. That resulted in the Lady Cougars scoring the first nine points of the half to draw to within one, 18-17, at the 8:08 mark.

After giving up a Taylor County basket, the Lady Cougars reeled off 10 straight to grab a 27-20 lead with 2:35 left and they were never in danger again. When the buzzer sounded, Grayson County had outscored its opponent 28-5 in the second half.

Brittany Bird led the Lady Cougars in scoring with nine points, while Beeler had six. Farris and Vega Velez had five each and Loren Swift finished with four. Laura Downs hit a three-pointer with five seconds left in the game and finished with three. Alex Powell had two and Cindy Langley and Rachel Romance had one apiece to complete the scoring.

JVs vs JOHN HARDIN

The JV squad had beaten John Hardin rather easily last week in Bardstown, but they had the services of juniors Farris and Swift in that contest. They did not have them Monday, while John Hardin had a couple of girls they did not have last week. That all led to a much closer game this time.

The teams stayed close in the first half and the score was tied 11-11 at the 1:09 mark when Rebecca Meredith hit a layup for the Lady Cougars. John Hardin then scored the last four points to take a 15-11 lead into the halftime break.

Grayson County pulled to within three points, 18-15, on a three-pointer by Jessica Embry at the 11:27 mark, but John Hardin jumped out to an eight-point lead, 24-16, with 7:56 left.

The Lady Cougars then scored seven straight to move to within a point of the lead with four minutes left, 24-23. They outscored John Hardin 11-6 the rest of the way to steal the game.

Meredith was particularly active in the stretch, scoring 10 of her team-high 14 points in the last seven minutes.

"She is one on the most improved players I have ever been around," King said after the game. "She can do it all, score, rebound and handle the ball. She might even be able to play with our varsity girls."

Tara Snyder scored five for Grayson County, while Embry and Krista Fulkerson had four each. Tiffany Brooks scored three, Kelsie Skaggs had two, and Heather Baxter and Tyra Shepherd had one apiece to complete the scoring.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

The Lady Cougars had another slow start, falling behind 8-2 in the game's first six minutes, but they began playing better at that point. They scored six straight to tie things at the 8:17 mark and trailed by just one, 14-13 at the half.

The lead changed hands a couple of times in the early going of the second half before a Farris three-pointer put Grayson County in front to stay, 20-18 at the 11:01 mark. The Lady Cougars led by six points twice in the game, the last time 31-25 with 1:31 left.

Senior Lee Ann Wood scored six of her team-high eight points in the second half to lead the charge. Farris finsished with five points, all in the second half, and Langley also had five. Bird finished with three points, while Downs, Swift, Powell, Romance and Vega Velez all had two to complete the scoring.