By Hannah Helbert
The Patrick County High School Lady Cougars’ spectacular basketball season came to an end Thursday night with a loss to the Abingdon Falcons in a regional semifinal game.
The Lady Cougars had swept through the Piedmont District season and tournament, going undefeated in district play and winning the championship. They won their first round game in the regional tournament Tuesday before their meeting with Abingdon.
The Lady Cougars defeated the Hidden Valley Titans 62-44 in the first round of the Region 3D tournament Tuesday, February 20. Hidden Valley had a quick start to the game, jumping ahead 9-0 before PC would score.Coach Donny Rakes was very proud of how well his team responded to this scoring run by the Titans: “Hats off to Hidden Valley, they came out smoking with a 9-0 lead. We didn’t panic, we pushed the ball and shared it. That’s what we do. Couldn’t be prouder of a group of kids.”Once the Cougars bounced back, they controlled the game for the remaining minutes. The Cougars had two players with a double-double and four with double digit scoring.Freshman Sierra Hubbard, who had been out all week due to injury, was able to play and announced her return with quite the game finishing with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Senior Alexus Cain had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Autumn Hubbard added 12 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 steals. Junior Hannah Roberson added 10 points. Coach Rakes said this about the win, “Great win for our program! These kids don’t quit, they play hard and believe in each other.”This win marked the 16th straight win for the Cougars and improved their record to 22-3 as they headed into the second round of Region play.The Lady Cougars fell to the Abingdon Falcons last Thursday by a score of 55-44 in the second-round regional tournament game at Magna Vista High School.
Throughout the entire game the Cougars continued to hustle bringing the score within four points in the second half, however the Falcons pressed on to victory. Coach Donny Rakes said this of the loss, “We simply dug ourselves too big of a hole to climb out of. Tremendous effort to come back to within 4 points in the fourth quarter. We simply spent all of our energy to get back to even with them and ran out of steam.“Hats off to Abingdon, a very good basketball team, with an amazing player, Grace Hess who is going to the Air Force Academy,” he added.Senior Autumn Hubbard had a double-double in her last game as a Cougar. She finished with 20 points, 20 rebounds, and 5 steals.
Hubbard is one of three seniors leaving the team this season. Coach Rakes said Hubbard is “…simply the heart and soul of Patrick County basketball for the last four years and probably one of the very best ever here at the high school.”The Cougars end their season with a 22-4 record.