It was ugly immediately and it never got any prettier as the JV and varsity Lady Cougar basketball teams absolutely crushed the visiting Hidden Valley Titans Friday evening in the Cougar Den.
“Well, it was better than last night, that much is for sure,” Lady Cougar Head Coach Scott Ratcliff said. “We tried a few things just to see how some of our younger JV players would do, and in the varsity game they just all did their jobs. I think we turned our intensity up a little bit tonight, which is something we’ve been preaching to the girls that we needed to do. We still need to do a lot of work, but this was a good step forward for us.”
The night started with the JV game, which was a tremendous rebound effort from their loss the night before to Princeton. At the end of the first quarter the Lady Cougars led 14-5. Pulaski County held the Titans to two points in the second quarter, none in the third, and just three points in the fourth quarter to earn a convincing 51-10 victory.
Ten different Lady Cougars put stats in the scorebook. Morgan Price scored eight points. Emma Ritter, Ellie MacDonald, and Palyn Sweet added six points each. Taylor Goble scored five points. Sophia Hanson, Sarah Ritter, Victoria Hale, and Caroline Bishop added four points each. Ellie Russell and Peyton Harper scored two points each.
“I don’t think they liked losing last night,” Coach Ratcliff said. “I think tonight showed them what they’re capable of when they come into a game with the right mindset.”
The varsity game was more of the same. Pulaski County led 25-1 after one quarter and 39-7 at halftime. The Lady Cougars held Hidden Valley to just three points in the third quarter, increasing their lead to 56-11 heading into the final period. With the clock running Pulaski County outscored the Titans for one more quarter, 13-11, to earn the 69-22 victory.
Paige Huff hit a three-pointer to open the game, leading the way for a second night in a row with 17 points that included three big three-pointers. Keslyn Secrist added 15 points and Hannah Keefer finished with 10 points. Tori Vest added nine. Kinzlee Jones scored seven. Andi Ratcliff scored six. Jaden Lawson scored three. Destiny Duncan added the final two points of the game.
“We’ve got a pretty good ball team, we just need to be consistent every night,” Ratcliff said. “It’s tough sometimes to bring that intensity every night, but that’s what we ask out of them. You’ve got to have some toughness and a little grit in your gut. These girls have been really close the past few years. We just need to push it a little bit harder and we’ll have a chance at getting that ring. We all believe in these girls, they’ve just got to reach down and find that little bit extra.”
The Lady Cougar will host Blacksburg Tuesday and Cave Spring Thursday in their final two home games of the season. The final game of the regular season is set for Tuesday, February 7, at Salem High School.