Senior night was full of exploits by Lady Bearcat seniors in a 42-36 Conference 3AA-4 win over Cossatot River.
One of the two Lady Bearcat seniors on the floor – senior Emma Ferguson was unable to play due to injury – Angie Brown scored the first 4 points of the game. She had assists on a pair of 3s by senior Baylee Parnell that made it 10-0 with 5:12 left in the first quarter.
Neither was finished. Although she would score just 2 more points, Brown would have five more assists on the night, establishing a new single season high for a Lady Bearcat with 115.
Parnell's next basket would give the Lady Bearcats a 17-0 lead with 7:22 left in the first half. She would finish with 12 points.
Cossatot River scored its first points with 6:30 left in the half and with Parnell and Tempi Terry both sitting with three fouls the Lady Eagles were able to trim the deficit slightly, to 22-9 at the half.
Cossatot really worked on slicing into the lead in the third quarter, getting as close as 30-25 with 2:15 left in the quarter and then matching a Haylee Taylor basket, which came on an assist from Harley Fitzjurls, to again get within 5 at 32-27 through three quarters.
Makinley Ensey started the fourth quarter scoring after a nifty feed from Brown and, after a scoreless stretch of 2:25, Brown scored to make it 36-27.
The Lady Eagles got only as close as six the rest of the way.
The visitors did so with a couple of 3s, the first of which Taylor answered with a 3 and the second she answered with one from much closer range and it was 41-33 with 1:40 to play.
Taylor would lead all players with 15 points, with 9 coming in the second half.
The Lady Bearcats will not play again until next Friday against Charleston when they will be the second game of the night as it is homecoming and the court features four players, including Queen Angie Brown.
Jr Girls
The Lady Bearcats completed at 5-2 Conference 3A-4 season with a 32-22 win over Cossatot River in the first game of the night.
That earned them the 2-seed in the District 3A-4 Tournament that will start on Saturday, though they will not play in the tournament until Wednesday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m.
The Lady Bearcats (11-6) turned a 14-12 halftime lead into one of 20-12 just 1:50 into the second half with the freshmen Tori Nobles, Chloe Walker, and Emma Fox all contributing.
However, Cossatot was able to get within 21-16 by the end of the quarter.
The Lady Bearcats spent the final quarter building on the lead with Walker completing a 12 point effort and Kaity Green providing a couple of key steals and three points within a span of 24 seconds that saw the lead reach 31-22.
The Lady Bearcats are scheduled to travel to both Lavaca and Charleston on Monday and Thursday of next week on nights that also include games for the junior boys and both seventh grade teams.