The Pulaski County High School Lady Cougar basketball team opened their regular season on the road Wednesday, taking a 58-64 loss to the defending Class 3 State Champions at Carroll County High School.
The Lady Cougars have made a habit out of winning. They’ve won with different coaches and they’ve won with different lineups. Their efforts and approach to the game have made the program one of the most winning programs in the school. Judging by the effort seen Wednesday, they’ll likely continue to find ways to win this season as well.
“We missed enough free throws and uncontested shots to win the game,” Lady Cougar Head Coach Scott Ratcliff said. “You could tell it was our first game and we’ve got a few new faces in the lineup. I can’t complain about our effort out there, but we do need to tighten things up. Carroll County has a great program. I thought our girls did some good things out there, but like I said we knew we still had some work to do.”
Carroll County took the early lead, but the Lady Cougars kept working to keep it close. By the end of the first quarter the Cavs led 13-9. Both teams were forced to deal with a high number of fouls early in the game, which is normal during a season opener, but both teams also continued to press the issue. Each team added 14 points in the second quarter to leave the Cavs up 27-23 at the halftime break.
The Lady Cougars made a run in the third quarter, outscoring the Cavs 16-9 to take a 39-36 lead after three quarters. The Cavaliers rebounded in the fourth, outscoring the Lady Cougars 28-19 thanks to effective work at the charity strip, to earn the 64-58 win over Pulaski County.
The same situation occurred last season when the Cavs defeated Pulaski County by 16 points in the season opener, only to have the Lady Cougars return the favor in the second meeting in the Cougar Den.
“Hey, it’s a tough place to play,” Coach Ratcliff said. “They’ve got a ton of fan support, but so do we. It was great to see the fans make the trip tonight to support the girls. We’ll break everything down and then get back to work. You’d like to win them all, but that’s pretty tough to do against good competition. These are the kind of games we want to be in. They make us better. I’m excited to see how the season plays out.”
Senior Keslyn Secrist led the Lady Cougars with 23 points. Junior Kenzlee Jones backed her up with 15 points in her return to wearing a Lady Cougar uniform. Junior Hannah Keefer added 10 points. Senior Paige Huff scored six and sophomore Reese Nolen added three. Junior Jaden Lawson found herself in foul trouble early, but was still able to add one point.
The Cavaliers were led by Kalee Easter with 23 points, Alyssa Ervin with 17, and Ashton Richardson with 13.
In the junior varsity contest, the Lady Cougars started the season with an impressive come-from-behind 42-33 victory. Sophomore Emma Ritter led the way with 14 points. Sophomore Taylor Goble added nine points. Sophomore Caroline Bishop scored eight. Sophomore Sydney Phibbs and freshmen Morgan Price scored three points each. Freshmen Ellie MacDonald and Sara Ritter added two points each. Freshman Brooke Millirons was good for one point to round out the scoring for Pulaski County.
“We’ve got some sophomores that are hungry,” Coach Ratcliff said. “There are six of them and they all contribute in a big way. Our freshmen are pretty talented too. Add in the eighth-graders that will get a chance to come practice and work with the JV squad after the middle school season is over and we’ve got a pretty good setup for the future of our program. We’ll lose three really good seniors to graduation at the end of the season, so we want to make sure we have the next lineup working together now when we can. That and hard work is how you build success.”
The Lady Cougars were scheduled to host Radford for a varsity matchup and Floyd County for a JV lineup Friday. Monday, Dec. 5, the Lady Cougars will travel to Roanoke to play William Fleming. Wednesday, Dec. 7, they’ll travel to West Virginia to take on the Princeton Tigers. JV action begins each night at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity contests at 7 p.m.
