The middle school girls basketball teams hosted the Muhlenberg North Lady Stars on Thursday and split a pair of games in Cougar Gym.
The seventh graders never trailed as they evened their season record at 2-2 with a 29-13 win over the Stars. The eighth grade girls dropped to 0-4 for the season as they lost 35-19.
SEVENTH GRADE GAME
For a while it looked as though neither team would score as more than three minutes clicked off the clock without a basket. But at the 2:50 mark, Gracie Escue scored for the Lady Cougars off a pass from Sutten VanMeter and the Lady Cougars took the lead for good.
Escue scored again with 1:34 left in the first period to make it 4-0 before the Lady Stars got on the board on a basket by Izzy Wilkins with 1:03 left to make it 4-2.
VanMeter closed out the first-period scoring with a lay-in with 1:03 left and the Lady Cougars took a 6-2 lead into the second period.
Grayson County then outscored the Stars 10-4 in the second period to increase their lead to 10 points, 16-6 at the half.
Another long scoring drought opened the third period before the Lady Stars scored at the 2:25 mark to cut the lead to eight points, 16-8. The Lady Cougars then closed out the period with back-to-back baskets to increase their lead to 12 points, 20-8.
Grayson County then outscored the Stars 9-5 in the fourth period to close out the game.
Escue led all scorers in the game with nine points, and she added five rebounds. Mary Hudspeth scored seven points and added four rebounds.
Lily Kate Hill scored five points and pulled down three boards. Four players, VanMeter, Presley Jackson, Layla Escue, and Madison Bratcher all scored two points to complete the scoring. Escue added four rebounds, and VanMeter led the team with five steals.
Shawni Poole did not score in the game, but she led the team on the glass with seven rebounds.
EIGHTH GRADE GAME
The Lady Cougars were never in this game after the Stars scored the first six points and led by 10, 12-2 heading into the second period.
The Lady Cougars trailed by as many as 14 points, 18-4 with 2:57 left in the half before they scored the last four points of the period to trail again by 10 points, 18-8 at the half.
A 15-foot jumper by Lily Kate Hill at the 2:15 mark of the third quarter completed a 7-2 Lady Cougar run that closed the gap to just five points, 20-15, but the Stars closed out the period on a 6-2 run to increase their lead to nine points, 26-17 as the fourth period began.
Cora McMillan scored at the 4:49 mark to cut the lead to eight points, 27-19, but those would be the only points the Lady Cougars would score in the final period. The Lady Stars closed out the game with eight straight points to win going away.
The Stars’ Jaycee Noffsinger led all scorers in the game with 13 points.
McMillan recorded a double-double in the losing cause, scoring 10 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Hannah Franklin scored three points, while three players, Hill, Gracie Escue, and Coray Milam all scored two points to complete the scoring.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
