The Lady Cougars closed out their holiday tournament tour by splitting a pair of games last Saturday in the Farmers National Bank Holiday Bash, played at South Warren High School, in Bowling Green.
In the afternoon game, the Lady Cougars hurt themselves with turnovers as Green County got the best of them 61-55.
Later that evening, Grayson County had to go to overtime to defeat the host South Warren Spartans 59-55.
GREEN COUNTY
Once again the Lady Cougars hurt their chances of winning a game by committing turnovers which the opposition turned into points.
Grayson County committed 23 turnovers against Green County, and the Dragons turned them into 20 points. In a close game like this one was, that was deadly.
The game was tied three times in the first period before Green scored the last four points of the quarter to lead 14-12 at the start of the second period.
Grayson County responded by scoring the first seven points of the second quarter to take their largest lead of the game, five points at 19-14 with 6:18 to go in the first half.
The Dragons then scored eight unanswered points to go back on top 22-19 at the 5:06 mark. Taylor Higdon stopped the Green run with a three-pointer to tie things again 22-22 with 4:13 left.
Six straight Dragon points, capped off by a three-pointer from Kayla Bale, gave Green a 28-22 lead with 2:32 left. Breanna Fulkerson hit two free throws for the Lady Cougars with 2:23 remaining, but Bale buried another three at the 2:18 mark to push the lead to seven points, 31-24.
Lay-ups by Maddie Stewart and Kaylan Shull made it a three-point game with under a minute to play, but Green’s Carrie Ruth Davis closed out the first-half scoring with another three and the Dragons took a six-point, 34-28 lead into the locker room at the half.
Allie Ingram scored for Green opening the third quarter to give her team their largest lead of the night, eight points, 36-28 at the 7:13 mark, but the Lady Cougarss responded with seven unanswered points, five of them from Shull, to make it a one-point game again, 36-35 with 5:34 left.
Trailing by a point, Stewart went to the line with the chance to put the Lady Cougars back on top at the 2:53 mark, but could hit just 1-of-2 to tie it again, 38-38.
But Green ran off six straight to lead 44-38 with 1:59 left in the period. They still led by six points, 48-42 heading into the final period of play.
After Ingram scored to push the Dragon lead back up to eight points, the Lady Cougars got a three-pointer from Cassidy Swift and a lay-in by Shull to cut their deficit back to three points, 50-47 with 5:40 left to play.
The two teams then traded baskets before the Dragons put together a 5-1 stretch to increase their lead back up to seven points, 57-50 at the 2:33 mark. Grayson County would not get closer than four points the rest of the way.
The Dragons put four players into double figures, led by Bale, with 16 points. Ingram and Laura Beth Houk had 12 points each, and Rachel Marr added 10.
Stewart led all scorers with 18 points and she added six rebounds and three steals. Shull scored 17 points and led the team on the boards with nine rebounds. Sarah Pierce scored seven.
Three players, Swift, Higdon and Grace White each had three points, while Fulkerson and Jodi Decker had two points apiece to complete the scoring. Fulkerson also led the team with seven assists.
SOUTH WARREN
At the start of the first quarter, it seemed as though the Lady Cougars were going to run away and hide. Six different players scored the first 12 points of the game. The Spartans did not get on the board until Colby Downing hit a three-pointer with 1:27 left in the opening period. The Lady Cougars led 17-5 heading into the second period.
But the Spartans quickly got themselves back in the game by opening the second quarter on a 9-0 run to pull to within three points of the lead, 17-14 at the 5:34 mark.
The margin was still three points until Pierce scored with 42 seconds left and the Lady Cougars took a five-point advantage, 29-24, into the half-time intermission.
Swift opened the third quarter by hitting a three-pointer, but the Spartans responded with six straight to pull to within a point of the lead, 31-30 with 4:19 left.
The Lady Cougars still led by a point, 34-33 when Higdon buried back-to-back threes to push the lead back up to seven points, 40-33 with 2:39 left.
Haley Pardue’s three-pointer with 18 seconds left brought the Spartans back to within a point of the lead, 42-41 as the fourth quarter began.
When Timitri Patterson scored opening the final period, the Spartans took their first lead of the game, 43-42. The Spartans then scored four more, completing a 9-0 run that saw them take their largest lead of the game, five points, 47-42 with 5:57 left.
Shull scored on a put-back basket and was fouled with 4:44 remaining and hit the free throw to bring the Lady Cougars back to within one, 48-47. Stewart then hit a lay-up to put Grayson County back on top 49-48 with 4:20 left.
The Spartans went to the line on three straight possessions and had the chance to put the Cougars in a big hole, but could manage to hit just 2-of-6 and led by just a point, 50-49 with under two minutes left in regulation.
Swift then hit her third three-pointer of the game to put the Lady Cougars up by two, 52-50 with 1:58 left to play. Shull went to the line with 1:24 remaining with the chance to make it a two-possession game, but could hit just 1-of-2 to make it 53-50.
Patterson hit a pair of bonus free throws with 1:04 left to make it 53-52 before Swift was fouled and went to the line with 35.7 seconds left. She could have given the Lady Cougars a three-point advantage, but missed the second shot. Patterson then tied it 54-54 with a rebound basket with 18 seconds remaining.
Grayson County called two timeouts after that, the last coming with 5.7 seconds left on the clock. Shull got the ball at the free throw line and put up a running jumper in the lane, but the ball banked off the glass, hit the front of the rim and bounced away, sending the game into overtime.
The Spartan’s Rachel Garden opened the overtime scoring at the free throw line, but hit just 1-of-2. Stewart then scored to put the Lady Cougars in front 56-55 and they would not trail again.
Kaley Burnette was fouled and had the chance to put the Spartans back on top, but missed both shots. Pierce then went to the line in the bonus for the Lady Cougars. She hit the first but missed the second to make it 57-55.
After a South Warren miss, Pierce went back to the line in the bonus, but missed the front end. South Warren missed again and Higdon grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Pierce, who was fouled once more with 10 seconds remaining.
This time she hit both shots, and when the Spartans turned the ball over on their last possession, the Lady Cougars put the game on ice.
Following the game, Stewart and South Warren’s Downing were both named to the All-Tournament Team.
Grayson County put three players into double figures, led by Stewart’s 14 points. Shull made it a double-double night by scoring 12 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. She also led the team with seven assists.
Swift was the third Lady Cougar in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Higdon just missed double figures with nine points and she added five rebounds. Pierce finished with seven points, White had five, and Fulkerson had two to complete the scoring.
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