Trailing by 13 points under a minute into the fourth quarter, the Lady Cougars pulled back to within two points of the lead with 21 seconds left in the game, but could get no closer as the visiting Apollo E’Gals held on to win 50-46.
For the Lady Cougars, it was a sloppily-played game as they committed 23 turnovers in the first three quarters of play. The E’Gals turned those turnovers into 21 points, but in the fourth quarter the Lady Cougars played nearly error free and almost pulled off the comeback.
The Lady Cougars never held a lead in the game after the E’Gals opened the game by scoring the first four points. They led by six points, 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Cougars pulled to within three of the lead twice in the second period, the last time coming at 18-15 following a Kenzie Renfrow lay-in at the 5:03 mark. They trailed by four points, 23-19 at the half.
The E’Gals opened the second half by scoring seven unanswered points to grab an 11-point lead, 30-19 at the 6:02 mark. They still led by 11 points, 37-26 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Ella Robinson hit 1-of-2 at the free throw line to open the fourth quarter, but Lexi Shadowen buried a three-pointer at the 7:41 mark to give the E’Gals their largest lead of the night, 13 points at 40-29.
That’s when the Lady Cougars made their big comeback move, scoring 11 unanswered points to pull to within two points of the lead, 40-38 with 3:03 remaining to be played.
The E’Gals went back up by six points, 48-42 with 54 seconds left, but Laura Vincent hit a three-ball with 47 seconds left to cut it back to three points, 48-45. Vincent then stole the ball and Renfrow was fouled with 21 seconds left and went to the line with the chance to pull the Lady Cougars to within a point, but hit just 1-of-2.
Renfrow then came up with another steal, but Shelbie Beatty stole the ball back and Renfrow fouled out, sending Amber Dunn to the line with 3.3 seconds left. Dunn hit both free throws for the final four-point margin.
Shadowen led all scorers in the game with 18 points, while Kassidy Daugherty scored 11 for the E’Gals.
The Lady Cougars put three players into double figures, led by Renfrow’s 13 points. She also led the team on the glass with nine rebounds, and she added four assists and three steals.
Bailey Snyder scored 12 points, and Vincent added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Rachael Snyder scored six points, Kaylee Masden scored three and Robinson finished with one point to conclude the scoring.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
