It took every last second of the 32 minutes on the clock Tuesday night, but the Lady Cougars held on against Lamar Christian School for their sixth district win of the season.
Columbia Academy (7-14, 6-2) outlasted Lamar at home in a 31-30 nail biter that came down to a half-court heave at the buzzer.
Midway through the third quarter, Maggie Wilks gave CA some breathing room with back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Lady Cougars up 24-17, but Lamar went on an 8-0 run over the final three minutes of the quarter to go up 25-24 going into the fourth. A layup by Presley Dease gave CA a 31-30 lead with 2:33 remaining, but neither team scored the rest of the way.
The Lady Cougars tried to hold the ball for the final minute of the game, but a controversial call with 27.6 seconds to play where the ref said a CA pass touched out of bounds — though, it looked clean — gave Lamar a chance to win it. However, the Lady Lions missed a 3-pointer and later on missed the potential buzzer beater. Lauren McDaniel and Dease both had opportunities to put the game further out of reach at the charity stripe, but both missed the front end of 1-and-1 free throw attempts.
CA head coach Dale Watts said he’s proud of how hard his squad is playing, but the Lady Cougars are still relatively inexperienced.
“I didn’t think we played extremely well in spots, but I think that was because of our youth and inexperience,” he said. “Our schedule has probably been too hard for them as far as our out-of-district schedule, but I really think that will help us in our district games.”
Wilks, Dease and McDaniel led the way for CA, and Watts is really excited about Wilks’ potential as a freshman.
“Maggie is one of the more athletic girls on our team. She has some speed, she has some quickness and she has a great shot, especially from 3,” he said. “She’s working a little more on getting to the rim. She’s explosive enough to get to the rim, but sometimes she isn’t quite tall enough when she gets there.”
Watts also lauded fellow freshman Peyton McCain, who was able to score inside a couple of times early on against Lamar.
“We got a little length, but we’re not as basketball ready for our length. They’re not wise on using their length yet,” he said. “We have some fairly tall girls, and we’re working on that. They’ve come a long way.”
Watts said just about every shot CA makes is coming from face ups, and he’s hoping with more experience the Lady Cougars will be able to use their length to score with their back to the basket as well to be more versatile.
The Lady Cougars played at Parklane Academy Thursday night, but results weren’t available at press time. They will return home Saturday to take on Centreville Academy Saturday night and will resume District 4 play Tuesday at Laurel Christian.
With Bowling Green currently penciled in as the No. 1 seed in District 4, the Lady Cougars are aiming to claim the second spot, according to Watts. He said beating Lamar for the second time this year was big with the Lady Lions currently vying for third place behind CA and Bowling Green.
Pictured Above: CA's Presley Dease calls out a play while bringing the ball up the court Tuesday against Lamar. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
