by Danny Rogers

The Copper Basin Lady Cougars concluded action in the District 5-A tournament last week, finishing fourth and advancing to this week’s Region 3-A tournament. The ladies from Basin will be traveling to the winner of the District 6-A tournament for a region play-in game, and if successful, on to Chattanooga Arts and Science for further region action. With the conclusion of the District 5-A tournament, the Lady Cougars have a season record of 14 wins and 14 losses.

In district semi-final action the Lady Cougars saw a second half comeback fall short and lost to the Lady Seahawks of Silverdale by a score of 56-50. Poor shooting put Basin in a deficit situation early as the Silverdale zone afforded the Lady Cougars numerous open shots which would not fall. At the end of the first quarter, Basin trailed 17-10. Shooting woes continued to plague the Lady Cougars in the second quarter and by the end of the first half Silverdale had stretched its lead to 14 at 33-19.

In the third quarter, senior Brianna Hyatt started to warm up and Basin began to chip away at the Lady Seahawk lead. By the end of the quarter, the Silverdale advantage had been cut to seven behind Hyatt’s 11 third quarter points. The comeback continued in the fourth quarter and with just over a minute left, the Lady Cougars were back within 1 at 51-50. But the Lady Hawks finished the game scoring 5 consecutive points to wrap up the win. Tristen Hedden led the Lady Cougars with 18 points while Hyatt had 14. Lindsey Bracket had 8 and Nikki Trentham 6 for Basin. Silverdale’s Mariah Massengill led all scorers with 32 points while Rebecca Walliser had 11.

In Saturday’s consolation game, the Lady Cougars fell again, this time to Grace Academy, by a score of 52-40. Again, Basin trailed the whole game, but this time, it was nip and tuck until the final few minutes of the fourth quarter. Again, the Lady Cougars experienced poor shooting and turnover problems, but in addition, got into early foul trouble which would haunt them in the late stages of the game. Before the game was over, Basin would have five players foul out.

The Lady Cougars were behind 14-10 at the end of a first quarter which saw several lead changes. The lead kept going back and forth in the second quarter with the Lady Cougars taking the lead several times, but when the half ended, Grace was still up by a score of 26-24. The third quarter was more of the same, with the lead going back and forth, and with Basin holding the lead on several occasions, but again, when the quarter ended, the Lady Eagles were still holding on to a 37-35 lead.

The fourth quarter was still more of the same, until the last 3 minutes, when Grace Academy jumped out to a 5 point lead at 41-36. The Lady Cougars made one last run and cut the deficit to 1 at 41-40, but Grace scored the last 11 points to win going away. Tristen Hedden led Basin with 9 points, while Cassie Hyatt and Brianna Hyatt had 6 points each. Grace was led in scoring by Erika Goodman with 17 while Kaitlyn Eldridge had 13.

Silverdale-56 Walliser 11, Redmond 2, Alosi 5, Massengill 32, Woodard 8.

Basin-50 Brianna Hyatt 14, Trentham 6, Mealer 2, Brackett 8, Hedden 18, Caitlyn Hyatt 2.

Grace-52 Shroeder 6, Eldridge 13, Nunley 7, Goodman 17, Mours 2, Bonner 7.

Basin-40 Brianna Hyatt 6, Trentham 2, Mealer 4, Brackett 5, Hedden 9, Cassie Hyatt 6, Caitlyn Hyatt 4, Brown 4.