By Stephen Henderson
The Patrick County Lady Cougar basketball team played some of their biggest rivals last week.
Unfortunately, the Lady Cougar lost to two them—Tuesday, they lost to Martinsville by one point, 49-48. Thursday, PC lost to Magna Vista 36-43. Friday, the Lady Cougars defeated Halifax 40-22.
In Tuesday’s game, the Lady Bulldogs ended the first quarter leading the Lady Cougars 12-9. They maintained a lead of 26-19 at the half.
The Lady Cougars made a 5-0 run early in the third quarter, and a shot from Sydnee Burnette tied the game 26-26. Autumn Hubbard and Lindsey Marshall combined to take the Lady Cougars into the lead 36-30.
The Lady Bulldogs mounted an offensive rally in the fourth quarter to edge ahead and win the game by one on two late free throws, 49-48.
Lindsey Marshall scored 16 points and had three steals. Autumn Hubbard scored 10 points and recorded 10 rebounds. Hannah Roberson added nine points. The Lady Cougars forced 21 Lady Bulldog turnovers while the Lady Cougars had 10 steals.
Thursday, the Lady Cougars played Magna Vista and maintained even play for the first half of the game. The halftime score was 17-15, Magna Vista. The Lady Cougars mounted an offensive battle in the third to end the quarter in the lead, 25-21.
Magna Vista answered in the fourth quarter with an offensive attack on their own, scoring 22 points and taking a 43-36 win.
Izzy Beasley scored nine points while Alexis Cain and Lindsey Marshall each added six points.
Friday, the PC Lady Cougars played the Lady Comets of Halifax and won 40-22.
The Lady Comets came on strong in the opening minutes of the game picking up three three-pointers.
The Lady Cougars answered back with several strong layups and a couple of Lady Cougar steals that saw PC move ahead 14-9.
A strong defense and several forced turnovers saw the Lady Cougars take a 26-11 lead at the half.
However, the Lady Cougar offense lost some of its power in the third period, scoring only four points.
Hannah Roberson picked up the Lady Cougar offense in the final period, scoring eight points in the final quarter, including a pair of three-pointers.
Izzy Beasley scored 13 points for Patrick County; Hannah Roberson added 11.
The Lady Cougars are now 12-7 on the season heading into the closing regular-season games.
“This past week we had tough games against some of the top teams in the state,” said Coach Michael Hedrick. “We are still learning how to win big ball games, and sometimes, you have to learn the hard way by losing close ones,” he added.
“There were many lessons to be learned this week and our coaching staff fully expects us to be better prepared and ready for tournament play coming up,” he added.
“All of our players have stepped up their level of play the last few weeks,” Hedrick said. “It’s obvious that seniors Z Cole and Sydnee Burnette are playing to keep their careers going as long as they can,” he explained. “Lindsey Marshall, Hannah Roberson, and Izzy Beasley have all taken turns taking over the ball game for us, and quite frankly, if it wasn’t for Autumn Hubbard, we would probably only have a couple wins right now,” Hedrick said.
This week the Lady Cougars traveled to Hidden Valley Monday and travel to Abingdon tonight (Wednesday). Thursday, they host to Tunstall.
