The Shadow
While Sa’Mone Moore took center stage Monday night, the spotlight shone equally bright on Covington’s supporting cast.
Moore scored 32 points to eclipse the 2,000 career point total, while Kayla Campbell added 13 and Leteashia Clarke had 12 points and a dozen rebounds, as the Cougars advanced in the Western Gate Conference 45 tournament with a 70-36 quarterfinal win over the Bland County Bears.
The Cougars, now 18-4 on the season and the top seed in the tournament, will next play Narrows tonight in a semifinal at Eastern Montgomery. The Green Wave defeated Craig County in a 54-52 nailbiter Monday night.
Wednesday’s other semifinal will pit Radford against Auburn. The Bobcats eliminated Eastern Montgomery Monday night 93-22, while Auburn defeated Bath County, 57-20.
An early 10-0 Covington run gave the Cougars a 12-2 first quarter lead, and a 15-5 spurt to close the opening half gave the Cougars a 15-point lead at intermission.
Campbell had 11 in the first half that helped propel the Cougars to a 34-19 lead at the half.
“Kayla has the potential to be a special player,” said Covington coach Mark Pifer. “She is very athletic and shoots the ball pretty well.
“And tonight we got some solid contributions from some other girls,” he added. “A pretty nice effort.
Moore scored 14 third-quarter points. Her two free throws capped the third quarter scoring and gave the Cougars a 56-28 advantage.
Covington’s senior point guard then capped a night to remember with a 3-pointer with 31.1 seconds remaining in the game to reach the 2,000 point mark for her career.
She finished with 32 points, 24 in the second half.
Malee Lambert hit 3 treys and finished with 11 points to pace the Bears.
