It’s more of a testament to how good Columbia Academy basketball has been historically and during the tenure of head coach Dale Watts, but both the Lady Cougars and Cougars had their down seasons come to an end last week in the first round of the Class 5A South State Tournament Feb. 8.
Both squads entered the tournament as the underdogs and suffered double-digit losses to end their seasons. The Lady Cougars suffered a 45-29 loss to Copiah Academy, while the Cougars lost 59-46 to Adams County Christian.
The Lady Cougars (14-18) played exceptionally well in the first half against Copiah Academy and trailed by just one point, 22-21, going into the third quarter, but the injury bug came back to haunt them. CA’s leading scorer, Peyton McCain rolled her ankle late in the second quarter, which limited the Lady Cougars in the second half.
Head coach Dale Watts said Copiah got really hot from behind the arc in the third quarter, which forced CA to uncharacteristically have to try and play catch-up.
With the year coming to a close, Watts said he believes the Lady Cougars did a tremendous job and battled really hard. What hurt them most of all was their lack of free throw shooting. Watts said they would have won at least seven more games if they even shot marginally better at the charity stripe, which would have made the season look a lot different.
He added that by not having the inside presence CA was accustomed to in years past, the Lady Cougars had to adapt to being more of a perimeter team, which was difficult for them.
“Overall, the girls gave a great effort. We were in most of the games. We battled and made it competitive and had opportunities to win a lot of those,” Watts said. “I’m not happy we didn’t go any further, but on the other hand, I’m pleased with the girls’ effort, which is all you can ask for.”
The Lady Cougars are graduating a pair of guards in Presley Dease and Chandlar Havard but will have six players out of their eight-player rotation back next season.
The Cougars (10-19) managed the game early and were close against Adams County Christian, but then Adams went on a run that made it difficult for CA to come back.
“They were a very athletic team. They were way stronger than us in the post. They had some big guys in there, and they were quicker than us at the guard play,” Watts said. “We had a very difficult time keeping them in front (of us), and they got dribble penetration on us.”
While the deficit was too much to overcome, the Cougars played exceptionally well in the second half, particularly Jeffrey Pennington. The guard went 6-of-7 from behind the arc in the second half alone to make the game competitive in the fourth quarter.
“I was proud of the guys. They kept their heads up, got after it and played hard,” Watts said. “(Adams) was just bigger, stronger and faster than we were.”
The Cougars are losing Hays Carley, Will Arinder, Caden Jones and Pennington to graduation. Watts said the future still looks bright for the Cougars with some real talent in the lower levels of the program, but it may take a couple of years to get back to competing for a state title.
