Lady Cougars have to hold on at the end, but emerge victorious, 40-37 at Edmonson County

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Leading by 11 points with under five minutes to play Friday night at Edmonson County, the Lady Cougars had to withstand a 13-5 Edmonson County run to come home with a 40-37, 12th District win.

This group of players know each other well since battling back-and-forth as middle schoolers in GRVC competition, and things have not changed since they have become high school players.

Grayson County led by four, 8-4 at the start of the second period when the LadyCats used a modest 6-3 run to pull to within a point of the lead, 11-10 at the 4:58 mark. But the Lady Cougars responded by closing out the half with nine unanswered points to take a 10-point lead, 20-10 into the halftime intermission.

The LadyCats cut their deficit in half by scoring the first five points of the third quarter, but the Lady Cougars still led by six points, 26-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

Bailey Snyder’s three-pointer at the 6:22 mark of the final period capped a 7-2 Grayson County run that pushed their lead to 11 points, 33-22.

The Lady Cougars still led by 11, 35-24, when things began to turn Edmonson County’s way. An 8-0 LadyCat run pulled them to within three points 35-32 with 2:32 left to play.

Kenzie Renfrow hit a pair of free throws at the 2:13 mark to halt the Edmonson run and make it 37-32, but the Lady Cats got two free throws from Lauren Balance, and a three-pointer from Madison Harrison to tie the game 37-37 with 1:36 remaining as the Edmonson County fans went wild.

Following a Grayson County timeout, Renfrow drove in for a lay-up that put the Lady Cougars back on top for good. Laura Vincent deflected a pass and Renfrow grabbed the loose ball, and Kaylee Masden was fouled with 24.6 seconds remaining. Masden hit 1-of-2 to make it a three-point game.

At the other end, the LadyCats missed a shot and fouled Renfrow on the rebound, sending her to the line with 12 second left with the chance to ice the game, but she missed both shots. Edmonson had a chance to send the game into overtime with a three pointer, but couldn’t get a good shot off and Renfrow grabbed the miss as the buzzer sounded to give the Lady Cougars the win.

Balance led all scorers in the game with 17 points.

The Lady Cougars got double-digit scoring from Bailey Snyder and Renfrow. Snyder hit three three-pointers and finished with 13 points and she added six rebounds and two steals. Renfrow finished with 12 points and she added five rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Rachael Snyder scored seven points and added four rebounds and two steals. Laura Vincent had four points and she added four rebounds and three steals. Masden finished with three points and six rebounds, while Ella Robinson closed out the scoring with one point and added a pair of steals.

By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com