The Lady Cougar basketball teams continued play in the Elizabethtown Summer Shootout with games on Tuesday.

The varsity won its first game handily against Bethlehem Academy, of Bardstown, then won a close one against Bullitt East, 38-35.The JV squad closed out play that evening with a tough one-point loss, 37-36 to Franklin County.

BULLITT EAST

Hallmarks of these summer shootouts, especially this one in Elizabethtown, is some liberal officiating by the men in stripes, and some hit or miss scorekeeping by the men, or women, on the sidelines.

Apparently, the split lip Shelbi Tyra received in Monday evening’s game was not worthy of a foul call, despite the blood dripping on the floor. In this game against Bullitt East, while there was no blood, there was more than enough beating and banging going on to fill a wrestling match.

And about halfway through the first half, the scorekeeper failed to record a free throw Tyra made so that the Lady Cougars had one more point than was showing on the board throughout the rest of the game.

It didn’t seem to matter in the first half, when Grayson County led by 11 points, but when the Lady Chargers made a comeback in the second half, that point seemed key.

The Lady Cougars led by just two points, 7-5 with 9:37 left to play in the first half when they began a run that put them in charge by the end of the half. Moriah Ashley’s free throw with 2:07 left completed a 12-4 run that gave the Lady Cougars a 10-point lead, 19-9.

East made one-of-two free throws with 29 seconds remaining to cut it to nine, but Tyra closed out the scoring by hitting a layup with five seconds left that gave her team its largest lead of the first half, 11 points at 23-12.

When Chelsea Pharris hit her second three-pointer of the game at the 10:09 mark of the second half, the Lady Cougars held their largest lead of the game, 15 points at 30-15, but that’s when things started to turn around.

Back-to-back threes by East and another long jumper completed a 14-0 run that brought the Lady Chargers to within a point of the lead, 30-29 with 7:09 left to play.

The Lady Cougars responded with an Ashley layup and another three from Pharris to run it back up to six points, 35-29 with 6:20 remaining, but East scored six straight to tie things at 35-35 with 3:33 left.

But that would be all for the Lady Chargers. Tyra hit one-of-two free throws with 2:45 showing, then she scored on a layup with 39 seconds left to make the final margin three points.

Pharris led all scorers in the game with 16 points. Tyra joined her in double figures with 10 points and led the team with five rebounds. Ashley and Kylee Gorby both scored five points, while Kelli Harris added two to complete the scoring.

JV VS FRANKLIN CO.

The young Lady Cougars did a remarkable job staying in this game against a much bigger Lady Flyers team that held a lopsided advantage on the boards.

Grayson County started with a hot hand, getting a three-pointer from Halee Johnston and two threes and a layup from Sarah Taylor to take an 11-4 lead with 11:44 showing on the clock.

But they started to cool off at that point and the Lady Flyers answered with eight straight to lead 12-11 with 8:11 left in the half.

Two free throws by Gorby tied the score 15-15 with 5:16 left, but Franklin scored six straight to lead 21-15 with 2:08 remaining. Melanie Embry beat the buzzer with a three-pointer that cut the margin to three points, 22-19 at the half.

The Lady Cougars were able to pull to within a point of the lead, 26-25 with 9:33 left, but the Lady Flyers pushed it back to seven points, 36-29 with 4:31 left to play.

But the Lady Cougars were not finished yet. A Taylor jumper and a layup by Jordan Decker brought them back to within three points, 36-33 with 2:40 remaining, then Gorby buried a three with 1:12 left to tie it at 36-36.

Franklin County missed its next shot and the Lady Cougars called a time out with 39 seconds left. But they did not have a timeout remaining and the Lady Flyers were awarded the ball out of bounds.

The Lady Cougars were forced to foul with 14 seconds left and the Lady Flyer player hit one-of-two to put her team on top 37-36.

Grayson County had time to bring the ball up the floor, but their last shot was off the mark and Franklin grabbed the rebound to end it.

Taylor led the Lady Cougars with 12 points and added seven rebounds. Gorby had 10 points, six rebounds and two assists. Johnston and Embry both finished with five points and Johnston added five rebounds.

Decker finished with four points and led the team with nine rebounds, nearly single-handedly bring the team back in the last 10 minutes of play.