The Covington Cougars (0-1) girls basketball team dropped their season opener on Thursday night on the road to the James River Knights (1-1), 45-23.
Early on from the opening tip, the Cougars team struggled to points on the scoreboard while the Knights were able to make the open and contested shots which helped them take an early 16-0 lead after the first quarter.
The scoring drought continued for the Cougars almost midway into the second quarter, before Harlie Reynolds was fouled while making a layup.
Reynolds was unsuccessful with the three-point play as she missed the free throw, but on the missed free throw, Lauren Bragg grabbed the offensive rebound and made a two point shot while being fouled and cut the lead to 20-4.
Bragg was unable to convert the three-point play as she missed the free throw. The Cougars were 9-19 at the free throw line.
The Cougars had been scoreless for first 11+ minutes of the game and grabbed four points within seconds on back to back made two point field goals.
At halftime the Cougars trailed the Knights 24-7.
In the second half, Kayla Bartley scored all eight of her points in the game, including a three point field goal. Bartley also finished with a team high eight rebounds.
However, Bartley’s points in the second half weren’t enough for the Cougars to cut into the Knights lead as their lead grew to 19 points by the end of the third quarter.
Turnovers were a problem for the Cougars as the team committed 28 while the Knights finished with 18 with the majority of them coming in the second half.
Bragg finished the game with eight points and seven rebounds for the Cougars while her teammate Cristi Persinger had a good game defensively with five steals and also grabbed five rebounds.
The Cougars were back on the court last night (Friday) in their home opener against Galax. You can read all about the game in Tuesday’s edition.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Fnl
CHS 0 7 9 7 23
JHS 16 8 11 10 45
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