The date was Tuesday, March 8, and the Lady Cougar basketball team was on the verge of making a third State Championship appearance in four years. The only thing between them and that chance was the Millbrook Pioneers. A series of unfortunate events led to Pulaski County heading home with a 59-68 loss, ending their season.
Fast forward to Wednesday, Dec. 28, at Spotswood High School and the Twila Showalter Holiday Classic. The Lady Cougars found themselves facing that same Millbrook squad in the opening round of play. With a neutral court and a healthy squad, the results were quite different.
Pulaski County 57, Millbrook 36. Final.
“Not gonna lie, this one felt pretty good,” Lady Cougar Head Coach Scott Ratcliff said. “I thought our girls did a great job of coming together and playing like I know we can. We’ve got a few girls that are always going to get their points, but with this group you never really know who’s going to stand out. One night it might be a senior, the next night it might be a sophomore. That makes it pretty tough for the other team to really focus on any one player.”
The Lady Cougars did well in the first half. They outscored Millbrook 16-15 in the first quarter. Each team scored 10 points in the second quarter, leaving Pulaski County up 26-25 at the half.
That was when the Lady Cougars locked things down defensively. Pulaski County scored 15 points in the third quarter while holding the Pioneers to just five. Then the Lady Cougars added 16 points in the fourth quarter while holding Millbrook to just six points to seal the 57-36 blowout win.
“Defense is the difference,” Coach Ratcliff said. “When we play defense the right way, it makes things pretty tough on whoever we’re playing. Millbrook came into the 8-1 after beating some pretty good teams. This was a really good win for our program.”
Keslyn Secrist led the Lady Cougars with 25 points. Tori Vest backed her up with 12 points. Jaden Lawson scored seven points. Paige Huff added five. Morgan Vest scored three points. Andi Ratcliff and Reese Nolan added two points each. Hannah Keefer scored one point in the win.
The Pioneers were led by Hannah Stephanites with nine points. Jaliah Jackson added seven and Jada Arrington chipped in seven points.
The Lady Cougars will continue on in the tournament Thursday when they play Brian Woods at 1 p.m.