The middle school Lady Cougar basketball teams split a pair of games Thursday evening in Cougar Gym against Ohio County.
In the opener, the seventh-grade girls could not overcome a frigid shooting night and fell to the Lady Eagles 38-11.
In the second game, Kenedi Green’s game-high 20 points led the Lady Cougars to a 55-38 win. Two big second-half runs brought the Lady Cougars back from a halftime deficit.
SEVENTH GRADE GAME
The Lady Cougars gave up the game’s first seven points and were never in the game afterward. They trailed 9-2 after the first period of play and trailed 23-5 at the half.
Cold shooting and sloppy ball handling led to the big deficit. Grayson County hit just one of 18 from the field in the first half, 5 and a half percent. Add 12 turnovers into the mix and you have a recipe for disaster.
When Ohio County’s Layla Baker scored on a put-back basket with 4:37 left in the fourth quarter, the lead moved to 26 points, 34-8, and the clock began running continuously.
Ohio County’s quick point guard, Celeste Jachimoicz, led all scorers in the game with 19 points.
Payton Bowman and Breigh Jones led the Lady Cougars with four points apiece. Ellie Bratcher closed out the scoring with three points, and she led the team on the glass with six rebounds.
EIGHTH GRADE GAME
This was a game of two completely different halves. In the first half, Ohio County controlled the action. They led by seven points, 13-6 with 1:19 left in the first period.
Gracie Escue hit a lay-in at the 4:29 mark of the second period which gave the Lady Cougars a 14-13 lead, their first of the night, but Ohio County closed out the period with a 7-2 run to lead by four, 20-16 at the half.
Grayson County then opened the second half with a 12-0 run to grab control of the game. Haley Miller’s three-pointer with 4:38 left in the third period capped the 12-0 run and gave the Lady Cougars a 28-20 lead. They led by five, 34-29 heading into the final period of play.
A Jachomoicz three-pointer with 3:26 left to play brought the Lady Eagles to within four points of the lead, 39-35, when the Lady Cougars took off on a 16-0 run that saw them leading by 20 points, 55-35 with 33 seconds left. Lexi Logsdon scored the last six points of the run.
Jachomowicz led the Lady Eagles in scoring with 13 points.
In addition to her 20 points, Green grabbed six rebounds. Miller joined Green in double figures with 12 points. Escue finished with nine points and she pulled down six rebounds.
Two players, Logsdon and Breigh Jones, each scored six points, and Jones added six rebounds. Lucy Tarrance had two points to complete the Lady Cougar scoring and she led the team on the glass with nine rebounds.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
