Cougars start “Clash” with win over Pathway

By Cody Dalton
sports@southwesttimes.com

DUBLIN – The Lady Cougar basketball team closed the opening day of the first ever “Cougar Clash” tournament in style. They might have been in the final game of the day, but they certainly saved their best for last. Pulaski took a 21-2 first quarter lead over Pathway Christian and never looked back, winning impressively, 68-11.

The win is the second in a row and second of the season for the Cougars (2-7), who won in remarkable fashion against George Wythe, 81-46, last Wednesday before Christmas.

“I think it was good for us to be consistent offensively and still be able to keep up the intensity defensively,” said Cougars coach Jason Grubb. “Sometimes it is hard to do when you have a lopsided game. The last time played was against George Wythe and we got out to a big lead and our kids kind of lost their intensity in the second half. I felt like we improved in regard that we didn’t lose that intensity in the second half and they kept playing hard and they still had that hunger to go out and score more and keep playing defense and keep rebounding.”

Pulaski would score 11 straight points to start the game before Pathway would get on the board. Brittany Lawson, Kasey Holcomb, and Alexis McCloud would all score early for the Cougars during the run.

There was some bad news to come out of the game for Pulaski. Alexis McCloud, who is a key contributor off the bench for the Cougars, was injured after making a three pointer in the middle of the first quarter. Kasey Holcomb and Hannah Chaffin would also suffer minor injuries. Grubb was optimistic about the injuries though.

“Well, we were down a couple of point guards tonight, which is the worst thing that happened,” Grubb said. “On top of that, Hannah Chaffin also plays point guard and she got kind of rattled a little bit and was limping for a few minutes. I just said that we need to pull her out of the game because we never can tell what is going to happen. Kasey said that she feels like she will play tomorrow. The trainer said she hopes that Alexis will be able to play tomorrow. Both of those are questionable for tomorrow. They are a big part of our offense. They are very good ball handlers, very good defenders, and quick kids. We definitely would love to have them tomorrow.”

Because of the huge lead that had been built up to that point, the entire Cougar bench was able to get some playing time and show what they could contribute to the Cougars. Every player on the Cougar roster (except for McCloud who was injured) played at least ten minutes in the game.

“A lot of times, you use situations like this to give kids that haven’t played an opportunity to play,” Grubb said. “I was thinking the exact opposite. We are kind of beat up and banged up. We are still recuperating. Going into the game, I knew that if I had an opportunity to play Raiven a few minutes and take her out and put her in and take her out that I was going to do that just to let her get some of the rust out and to keep her fresh because we have a game tomorrow. Sydney is in the same boat. Sydney’s ankle still isn’t 100%. We don’t want her to play a bunch of minutes tonight and not be ready for tomorrow. I feel like that all the kids on the team do contribute to a winning effort and competitive game. Some kids definitely play more minutes than others, but I look at each kid on the team as a contributor.”

Hannah Chaffin was impressive off the bench in the second quarter, as the sophomore scored four points, while also helping her team with assists and rebounds. She would have a strong all around game, finishing the game with seven points, four steals, three rebounds, and four assists.

The defensive effort was strong for Pulaski as well, as Pathway would only score two points in the quarter again, as the Cougars extended their already big lead into a blistering 37 point lead at halftime.

Everything that went right for the Cougars in the first half continued to shine for them in the second half. Every player on the roster was able to get some more playing time and scoring honors as well. Out of the Cougars 68 points in the game, 38 were from bench players.

Kasey Holcomb and Daisy Ball tied for scoring honors in the game with 10 points. Shaniqua Banks scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds. Kelli Duncan scored four points and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds. In total, the Cougars out-rebounded the Panthers 37-20.

The Cougars must now quickly set their sites on Graham, who they will meet tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. The G-Men took a three point halftime lead and stretched it into a double digit blow out in their game against Patrick Henry, 60-39.

Graham (4-0) would take an early lead in the first quarter despite some poor shooting. The strong defensive pressure being applied by the G-Men limited Patrick Henry to just two points in the quarter.

However, the Patriots would storm back with two great performances from Sarah Williams and Shekeia Saltus. Williams scored seven points in the quarter and Saltus added four points, as Patrick Henry cut their deficit in half to three, 20-17.

Graham came out of the locker room in attack mode. Chelsea Gallinger scored eight points and Kelli Landreth scored seven points in the third quarter, as the duo combined for 15 of the G-Men’s 29 points in the quarter.

Both teams would cool off in the second, but Graham still managed to outscore the Patriots by five points, 11-6. Gallinger led the G-Men in victory by scoring 17 in the game, while Landreth scored 15 points. For the Patriots, Sarah Williams had 14 points, while teammate Shekeia Saltus added 11 points.

“Tomorrow we have Graham,” Grubb said. “They played a great game today against Patrick Henry. They put up a lot of points. The score was 60-39. I thought that would be a competitive game, but I was surprised that Graham did as well as they did. We’ve got a big game ahead of us. Hopefully we’ll be able to come out with the same intensity we did tonight and the same execution. We know our competition is going to be much more difficult.”

In the other semi-finals of the “Clash”, it will be William Fleming taking on Fairfax. The Colonels picked up an impressive win over a very large and talented Herndon squad, 68-61, in the second game of the tournament on Monday.

The third game of the day saw the Fairfax Rebels build a huge double digit lead against Tallwood Lions. That big lead enabled the Rebels to hold off a late run by the Lions, as Fairfax advanced to meet William Fleming in the winner’s bracket.

In the consolation bracket, Patrick Henry will meet Pathway Christian at 2:15 p.m. in the first game of the tournament on Tuesday. Herndon will play against Tallwood to follow at 4:15 p.m.