Devastating defense and lights-out shooting, especially in the first half, were the hallmarks of the Lady Cougars’ 63-25 thrashing of Edmonson County last Friday evening in Brownsville.

The Lady Cougars (5-0) held Edmonson County (2-3) to just 11 first-half points, and only two in the second period as they raced to a 43-11 lead at the half. Grayson County got 12 points off of Edmonson’s 10 first-half turnovers.

“I believe that’s the best half of basketball I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said Lady Cougar head coach Roy King.  “We missed a bunch of threes in the second half or I’m sure we would have been in the 70’s. We had just great intensity tonight.”

Senior Kelli Williams hit two threes and senior Hannah Anderson had one in the first period as the Lady Cougars led by as many as 13 points. Wiliiams began the scoring on the night with a three and Amderson’s three at the 3:37 mark gave the Lady Cougars a 10-4 lead.

Williams’ second three with 15 seconds left in the period made it a 13-point game at 19-6, but Edmonson’s Jordan Simon beat the buzzer with a three to make it 19-9 heading into the second period.

The Lady Cougars then put the game on ice, opening the second quarter with a crushing 19-0 run that pushed the lead to 38-9 with 2:26 left in the period. Junior Shelbi Tyra had eight of her game-high 17 points in the period and sophomores Sarah Taylor and Alex Crowe added three pointers as Grayson County outscored the Lady Wildcats 24-2 in the period to take an overwhelming 43-11 lead at the half.

Tyra finished with a double-double, pulling down 11 rebounds on the night. Williams had 12 points and added three rebounds and led the team in assists and steals with five each.

Anderson had her best game of the young season, hitting double figures with 11 points. She also had a pair of rebounds, four assists and three steals. Sophomore Chelsea Pharris had nine points on the night, while Taylor had six on two three-pointers.

Moriah Ashley had a fine game for the Lady Cougars, scoring five points, but grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out an assist. Crowe finished with three points to complete the Lady Cougar scoring.

After five games, three Lady Cougars are averaging double-figures in scoring. Tyra leads the team with a 16.2 average, while Pharris is averaging 14.6 and Williams is averaging 10.6.

Tyra and Williams share the team lead in assists with 19 each, and Tyra leads the team with 49 rebounds, just shy of 10 per game. Anderson leads the team in steals with 16 and Williams has 10.

Anderson has hit 10-of-12 at the free-throw line to lead the team at 83.3 percent. Tyra is hitting 70.8 percent on 17-of-24 shooting. Taylor has hit four of her nine three-point attempts to lead the team with a 44.4 percent average.

Williams leads the team in field-goal percentage, having hit 14-of-21 for 66.7 percent. Pharris is not far behind at 59.1 percent on 26-of-44 from the field.