The Lady Cougar basketball program hosted the Salem Spartans Friday. For the varsity squad, that resulted in another mark in the win column. For the JV squad, however, the night marked the first time in 57 games that they had tasted defeat.
“I don’t think either one of our teams played very well tonight,” Lady Cougar Head Coach Scott Ratcliff said. “We had too many turnovers and we made a lot of mistakes that made the varsity game a lot closer than it needed to be and cost the JV squad their first loss in a long time. That’s just not the way we want to play.”
The JV teams took the floor first and the expectations were high for the Lady Cougars. Salem applied pressure and threw a wrench in the plan quickly. By the end of the first quarter, the Lady Cougars had bounced back enough to take a 9-7 lead, but several players were having foul problems. Salem outscored the younger Lady Cougars 9-3 in the second quarter to take a 16-12 lead into the halftime break.
Things got worse for the Lady Cougars in the second half. The Spartans held the normally aggressive Pulaski County offense to just four points in the third quarter while adding 13 points to their own total, bringing their lead to 29-19 heading into the fourth. The Lady Cougars won the fourth quarter by one point, 12-11, but it wasn’t enough as they dropped the contest 40-31.
Taylor Goble was the leading scorer for Pulaski County with nine points. Sophia Hanson and Morgan Price added four points each. Sydney Phibbs, Palyn Sweet, Emma Ritter, and Sara Ritter added three points each.
The loss by the JV Lady Cougars ended a 56-game winning streak that went back to the 2019-20 season. The JV Lady Cougars lost their first game of the season on the road at Carroll County that year with just five players on the team. The next day several players from the middle school teams moved up and the team won 21 in a row to finish the season. They finished the 2020-21 Covid season 6-0, then went 17-0 last season. They started this season off with 12 straight wins before losing tonight.
With the loss, the JV Lady Cougars move to 12-1 on the season.
“You’ve got to show up with a chip on your shoulder every night,” Coach Ratcliff said. “This was a tough lesson for them to learn. Nobody is going to just lay down for you because you’ve been winning. You’ve got to go out and earn it every night. We had somewhere over 40 turnovers. That’s insane. You just can’t play like that and expect to win. I guess now we’ll find out what they’re made of by how they react.”
The varsity Lady Cougars moved their record to 12-3 with a 57-44 win over the Spartans. Salem kept pace for the first few minutes of the game, but by the end of the first quarter the Lady Cougars led 13-4. Pulaski County outscored Salem 14-11 in the second to lead 27-15 at the half. They also outscored Salem 19-14 in the third to increase their lead to 46-29 heading into the fourth. Salem outscored the Lady Cougars 15-11 in the fourth, but it was too little, too late.
Hannah Keefer continued to be a force with 17 points. Keslyn Secrist added 12 and Paige Huff scored 10 points. Jaden Lawson added eight points, but also was a key part of the Lady Cougar defense and ball control efforts. Tori Vest scored five points. Morgan Vest and Kenzlee Jones added two points each.
“We got the win, but it was sloppy,” Ratcliff said. “This wasn’t good enough. The girls don’t like to hear that, but it’s the truth and deep down they know it. We might have played a few quarters this season up to our full potential, that’s it. If we ever put it all together for a full game, we’re going to be a pretty tough ball team. I hope they decide to put it all together.”
The Lady Cougars will be back in action Tuesday, January 17, when they travel to Christiansburg. After a short layoff, they’ll return to the court Tuesday, January 24, at Patrick Henry. Thursday, January 26, they’ll host Princeton, West Virginia. JV action begins each night at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity contests at 7.