The Columbia Academy Lady Cougars continued to prove they are the team to beat in Class 3A by winning the District 4 Tournament at Bowling Green last week.
Fresh off their 18-game winning streak being snapped in the regular season finale, the Lady Cougars (23-8) took care of business in the district semifinals Friday, beating Amite School Center 38-15.
Head coach Dale Watts said it was really a rough game with Amite having a physical presence but that the Lady Cougars handled it well. Macey Jones and Olivia Adams posted identical stat lines with 12 points and seven rebounds apiece to lead CA.
Then Saturday the Lady Cougars had to dig themselves out of a hole in an extremely loud atmosphere against host Bowling Green but managed to pull away at the end for a 36-32 victory. Watts said the Lady Cougars were behind most of the game but kept their composure.
“The bottom line was fairly simple. Bowling Green was shooting it from 3, and we were shooting it from three feet. Our defense made them take some contested 3-point shots, and we were able to rebound them, get the ball in right spots around the basket and score. It was a real tough game,” he said.
Jones led the way with 14 points and six rebounds, while Peyton McCain added nine points and nine boards.
As the No. 1 seed from District 4 in the South State Tournament, Columbia Academy took on District 3 No. 4 seed Canton Academy Wednesday in the first round, but results were unavailable at press time. Watts said prior to the game that if the Lady Cougars just play their game, he felt confident they would win it.
“Every week everything starts over. Granted we’re a 1 (seed) playing a 4 (seed), and hopefully that will play to our advantage,” he said.
With a victory, the Lady Cougars would secure a berth in the Class 3A Tournament next week and advance to play either Tri-County Academy or Lamar Christian in the South State semifinals Friday at 3 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m., while the consolation game will be at 1 p.m. The tournament is being played at Columbia Academy, so the Lady Cougars will have home-court advantage throughout.
