A big Lady Cougar run in the second period opened up a close game and propelled the Lady Cougars to a 66-50 win over Butler County in the opening round of the 12th District Tournament, being held in the Cougar Den.
The win secured a place in the championship game on Thursday at 7 p.m., where they will face Edmonson County, a 38-27 winner over Whitesville Trinity in the other semi-final matchup.
There were nine lead changes in the opening period of play, with Butler County scoring the last five points of the period to grab a four-point lead, 17-13.
Butler County still led by four, 19-15 following a lay-in by Caitlyn Taylor at the 7:16 mark of the second period when the Lady Cougars got cranked up. A 13-2 run, capped off by a Kenzie Renfrow rebound basket with 1:46 left put the Lady Cougars ahead by 10 points, 31-21.
In all, the Lady Cougars outscored Butler County 21-7 in the second period and led by 10, 34-24 at the half.
The Lady Bears cut their deficit to six points, 40-34 following a Taylor six-footer with 1:40 left in the third quarter, but the Lady Cougars closed out the period with a 5-2 run to lead by nine, 45-36 heading into the fourth quarter.
A 6-0 run near the start of the fourth increased the Lady Cougar lead to 13 points, 54-41 with 5:33 left to play. They led by as many as 17 points in the period, 60-43, with 4:00 left before finally winning by 16.
Taylor led the Lady Bears with 19 points, while Gracie Cardwell had 15.
Renfrow led all scorers with 27 points, and she added five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Bailey Snyder joined Renfrow in double figures with 12 points and she added six rebounds.
Rachael Snyder finished with nine points and seven boards, while Aryssa Riggs finished with six points. Jenna Nash scored five points and Annie Kiper added four. Laura Vincent closed out the scoring with three points and she led the team on the glass with 15 rebounds.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105,com
