Opening the season at home on Monday, the Lady Cougar basketball team lost a home-opener for the first time in 16 years, 60-42 to the Christian Academy of Louisville (CAL).
The Lady Centurions were a last-minute replacement for the Lady Cougars. They were supposed to open on the road at Ohio County, but the Lady Eagles cancelled on Saturday due to Covid-19 concerns.
The game was tied one time, at 2-2, and the Lady Centurions never trailed afterward. After the tie, CAL scored nine unanswered points and led 14-6 after the first period of play.
After CAL’s Jaya McClure opened the scoring in the second period with a lay-in to give her team a 10-point lead, the Lady Cougars ran off six straight points to pull to within four points, 16-12 at the 2:42 mark. They would never be closer.
The Lady Centurions closed out the half on a 13-4 run to lead by 13 points, 29-16 at the break. They then scored the first six points of the third quarter to lead by 19 points, 35-16 at the 7:03 mark.
Senior Rachael Snyder hit a three-pointer at the 6:43 mark to halt the CAL run. Trailing by 15 points, 37-22, Snyder got hot, scoring the next 10 Lady Cougar points to pull them to within seven points of the lead at 39-32.
CAL responded with a 9-3 run to push the lead back up to 13 points, and Grayson County was never closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Senior Sydney Raque hit four three-pointers in the game and led her team with 22 points, while McClure added 19.
Snyder led all scorers with 23 points and made it a double-double night by pulling down 14 rebounds. Senior Ella Robinson scored five points and added six rebounds.
Sophomores Annie Kiper and Raigan Cave both scored four points, while sophomore Aryssa Riggs and senior Gracie Franklin had three apiece to complete the Lady Cougar scoring.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
