The North Cross Lady Raiders (8-2) held onto a 39-36 non-district road victory over the Covington Lady Cougars (2-16) at the Cougar Den Wednesday night.
The Lady Raiders were backed by Alexis Teter and Sophia Brown who each had 10 points.
Meanwhile for the Lady Cougars, they were led by Lauren Bragg who recorded a game-high 15 points, while Alexus Wall had 14, including a pair of three-pointers.
In the first quarter, the Lady Raiders broke a 2-2 tie by going on a 7-0 scoring run to build a 9-2 lead.
The Lady Cougars though, despite being kept off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes did not give up.
With 2:29 left in the quarter, Wall delivered the Lady Cougars their first bucket of the game and stopped their scoring drought to get the team within five points at 9-5.
Seconds later, Wall rained one of her two three pointers to get the Lady Cougars within a point.
Now within a single point, the Lady Cougars would wrap up the first quarter on an 8-0 scoring run following L. Bragg’s layup that came off of an offensive rebound.
The Lady Cougars took a 10-9 lead following their eight straight points to end the first period.
The second quarter would be different for the Lady Cougars as they were held to just five points in the quarter.
After ending their scoring drought with basket within the first minute of the quarter, Teter would drain an open three-pointer to rebuild the Lady Raiders lead back up to five points at 14-10.
L. Bragg would end the Lady Raiders mild scoring run to cut the lead back down to two points.
However, the Cougars in the final five minutes of the quarter would be held to just two points. During that time, the Lady Raiders would build a seven point lead by halftime, 21-14.
In the third quarter, Dajah Garrison would knock down one of her three three-pointers to open the half and gave the Lady Raiders their biggest lead of 10 points at 24-14.
Just like the first quarter, the Lady Cougars did not give up.
In a matter of minutes the Lady Cougars would get back in the game and cut the lead down to just three points following an 8-1 scoring run. The scoring run was highlighted by Sydney Bragg who knocked down a three-pointer and had five points during that stretch. L. Bragg also reeled in another big offensive rebound and laid it back in the hoop which cut the Lady Cougars deficit down to three points at 28-25.
As the Lady Cougars were building momentum toward the fourth quarter, Schaefer would end the third period by knocking down a jump shot just as the buzzer sounded to give the Lady Raiders a 30-25 lead.
In the final quarter, the two teams would trade scores. Down six points, Wall would keep the Lady Cougars in the game as she hit all net from three-point range.
After the Lady Raiders rebuilt a five point lead, Wall once again would keep the Lady Cougars in it as she converted a three-point play with just over three minutes remaining.
Moments later, L. Bragg knocked in a jump shot from short distance to tie the game at 35-35. It was the first time the game had been tied since 2-2 in the first quarter.
With under two minutes remaining, Garrison would break the tie by knocking down a huge three-pointer to put the Lady Raiders up 38-35.
The two teams would then trade a free throw to keep the game at three points, 39-36.
Down by just three, L. Bragg got a good look from three-point range, but was just off the mark.
With seven seconds left, the Lady Raiders in bounded the ball to Garrison who broke through the defense resulting in the Lady Cougars being unable to foul them as the game clock expired.
The Lady Cougars next game will be this Thursday at Parry McCluer in a Pioneer District matchup.
Team 1 2 3 4 Ttl
NCHS 10 11 9 9 39
CHS 9 5 11 11 36
Lady Raiders Scoring: Brown 10, Teter 10, Garrison 9, Kylie Schaefer 9, Teea Hash 1
Lady Cougars Scoring: Bragg 15, Wall 14, S. Bragg 5, Breanna Reynolds 2
