The middle school Lady Cougars hosted the Muhlenberg North Lady Stars Monday evening at Cougar Gym and came away with a split of the two games on Eighth-Grade Night.
In the opener, the seventh-grade girls had an 11-0 first-half run that put them in control of the game, then followed that up with a 7-0 run in the third quarter as they defeated the visitors 38-23.
In the eighth-grade game, Grayson County was leading in the third period before the Lady Stars put together a 12-0 run and they went on to defeat the Lady Cougars 28-20.
SEVENTH-GRADE GAME
The Lady Stars raced out to an early 6-2 lead, only to see the Lady Cougars score the last eight points of the first period and take a 10-6 lead into the second quarter.
North pulled to within three points of the lead, 14-11, following a lay-in by Halle Lovel with 2:36 remaining in the second period, but the Lady Cougars closed out the half with a 6-1 run to give them an eight-point lead, 20-12 at the half.
Anie Kiper hit a pair of free throws opening the third quarter to increase the lead to 10 points, 22-12, but the Lady Stars responded with seven unanswered points to close back to within three points of the lead, 22-19 with 2:26 left.
Kiper’s old-fashioned three-point play with 25 seconds left in the period capped a 6-0 Lady Cougar run that saw them go back up by nine points, 28-19 as the fourth quarter got under way.
North’s Reagan Nunley opened the scoring in the final period to close the gap to seven points, but they would get no closer. Grayson County outscored the Lady Stars 10-2 the rest of the way to win going away.
Kiper led all scorers with 19 points and she added three rebounds, two assists and a team-high seven steals. Kelsey Cornwell scored nine points and led the team on the glass with six rebounds. She also added three steals.
Mikah Lee and Elizabeth Lindsey both scored four points and Briley Renfrow added two to complete the scoring.
EIGHTH-GRADE GAME
The Lady Cougars found themselves in an early hole after the Lady Stars scored the game’s first seven points. Grayson County trailed by five, 8-3 heading into the second period.
Grayson County held the Lady Stars to just a single point in the second quarter and trailed by just one, 9-8 at the half.
Raigan Cave’s lay-in at the 4:55 mark of the third quarter completed a 10-2 Lady Cougar run and gave them their first lead of the night, 10-9.
When Cave hit a running jumper with 1:44 left in the third quarter, the Lady Cougars led by four points, their largest lead of the night, 17-13.
Sarah-Cate Boggess scored the final two points of the period to pull her team to within two points of the lead at the start of the fourth quarter. Her basket was the start of a 12-0 North run that put them in control of the game, 25-17 with 4:03 left to play.
Riley Parks hit 1-of-2 at the line with 3:10 remaining that cut the deficit to five points, 25-20, but they would get no closer.
Cave led all scorers with 15 points and she added five rebounds and two steals. Kiper and Madelyn Henning both scored two points, and Parks finished with one to complete the Lady Cougar scoring. Henning led the team with seven rebounds, while Kiper had five boards and two steals.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
Annie Kiper drove in for two of her
game-high 19 points in the 7th-grade game.
Elizabeth Lindsey scored for the Lady
Cougars in the first half.
Riley Parks took the ball to the hoop
in the first half.
