Riding a three-game winning streak in their first three district games, the Lady Cougars were brought back to earth by a pair of more experienced and physical teams.
Columbia Academy (6-13, 3-1) went on the road Dec. 20 to take on rival Simpson Academy and struggled to keep pace in a 50-21 loss.
“Simpson has some juniors and seniors, and they were way stronger than us physically,” head coach Dale Watts said. “And they have a big girl, who is really, really good. Then they have some guards who are short, thick and quick and just strong. It helped our girls. We missed 18 points, nine shots, two and three feet from the basket, and it was nerves.”
Lauren McDaniel led CA with 11 points and seven rebounds, but no other Lady Cougar scored more than three points.
The following night in Franklinton, La., CA went toe-to-toe with the district favorite but came up short in a 37-28 loss to Bowling Green. Bowling Green features former CA player Macey Jones, who is 6-foot-4, and is quick on the perimeter, according to Watts.
Watts said both Simpson and Bowling Green played CA man-to-man and were extremely physical, which is a stark contrast to the Lady Cougars’ strength. CA is more of a perimeter-oriented team that shoots 3-pointers and relies on its guard play. However, Watts said the physical nature allowed the Lady Cougars to mature a lot in just two nights.
“Both of those teams live on their full-court press, and our girls handled the press really well,” he said. “We are maturing and getting better. Against those type teams we’re weak physically, and I hate it say it but right now we’re a little bit weak mentally. When that senior gets to pushing around on that freshman, we’re not handling it as well as we need to. After those eight quarters, the girls are stepping up. They’re handling that fight, and I believe it’s going to pay off for us in our league.”
The Lady Cougars will enjoy a long holiday break before returning to the court Jan. 4 at PCS. They were scheduled to play at Our Lady Academy Jan. 3, but the game was cancelled.
