By Stephen Henderson
The Patrick County High School Lady Cougar basketball team won two games last week, defeating Magna Vista 62-43 and avenging last week’s loss to Floyd by beating the Lady Buffaloes 56-46.
The Lady Cougars hosted the Lady Warriors last Tuesday. Patrick County pounced on Magna Vista in the first half, building up a 33-15 halftime lead.
They continued the drive into the second half and beat Magna Vista 62-43.
Sierra Hubbard led the Lady Cougars with 16 points. She grabbed eight rebounds and had five steals. Autumn Hubbard scored 13 points and had nine assists and 13 rebounds. Hannah Roberson scored nine points and had six rebounds, while Izzy Beasley scored eight with four assists and three rebounds.
“This was a solid win for our girls. We came out with a lot of intensity right out of the gate,” said Coach Donny Rakes.
“Our game is predicated on pushing the ball, running the court and looking for each other. We did that very well at times tonight,” Rakes said.
The Lady Cougars had a total of 19 assists against Magna Vista. “This is a testament to our unselfishness tonight,” Rakes explained.
“We are getting better at finding each other. If we do that on a consistent basis, we could end up being a pretty decent team by the end of the year,” Rakes said.
Rakes was also proud of the team’s defensive effort—“It was one our best of the season,” Rakes said.
Friday’s win at Floyd was one of the highlights of the young season. The previous week Patrick County lost to the Lady Buffaloes at home 75-69. Also, Patrick County was without the play of Autumn Hubbard; she was out with an ankle injury. When the game was over Friday night, the Lady Cougars had won 56-46.
“This was a tremendous win for our program,” Rakes said. “We lost to Floyd in a shootout at our place. Then with our leader Autumn Hubbard out with an injury, we really pulled together as a team and found a way to win at their place,” Raked exclaimed. “Izzy Beasley really stepped up at point guard against great pressure in Autumn’s absence,” Rakes said.
Patrick County took an early 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, but fell off the pace somewhat in the second period and ended up tying the Lady Buffaloes 24-24 at the half.
Patrick County moved ahead by eight at the end of the third and edged ahead by 10 at the final buzzer.
“Wins against Floyd with such a basketball pedigree are few and far between. The kids really competed and didn’t back down,” Rakes said. “I can’t express how hard they played; you really had to be there,” he added.
“They come at you in waves. We jumped out to the lead, and they came back to take the lead in the middle of the second quarter with one of their runs. We could have folded, but we didn’t. We weathered the storm to go in tied at halftime,” Rakes explained. “The third quarter was really key as we jumped back to an eight-point lead and kept it for the remainder of the game,” he said.
Rakes was proud of the team’s play Friday night. “Our team speed with Lindsey Marshall and Hannah Roberson really kept them on their heels. Then Sierra Hubbard just put us on her back with 13 of her 15 points coming in the second half,” Rakes said.
Hannah Roberson and Sierra Hubbard each scored 15 points; Lindsey Marshall added 14. Izzy Beasley scored nine points. Hubbard also pulled down 15 rebounds.
Patrick County’s season record is 4-1. The Lady Cougars played at George Washington of Danville Tuesday night. They will play at Rockingham County High School Wednesday, December 27, at 5:30 p.m., and will play Western Alamance Thursday, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, December 30, the Lady Cougars will host Bassett at 5 p.m.
