The Copper Basin Lady Cougars hit the road December 12 to face Sweetwater High School and came home with an easy victory 70-35.
“I thought the girls came out aggressively from the jump and overcame some early foul trouble and still took control from the start. Cora, Alexis, and Kloie did a great job at different points scoring the ball, and got strong contributions by Maleah Deal off the bench. Kendra did a great job facilitating things,” said Head Coach Jeff Grimes.
Copper Basin had the lead the whole way after the first minute. Lady Cougar Cora Kimsey started the Basin scoring, then Sweetwater answered to tie it. Then, Kimsey gave the Lady Cougars the lead for good with a basket. Basin led 21-9 at the first quarter buzzer.
Kimsey had six total points in the quarter. Kloie Ballew also had six points including two from the free throw line. Maleah Deal contributed five points in the quarter including a three-pointer. Alexis Hyatt had four points also in the quarter.
Basin kept the scoring attack going in the second quarter. They won the round 17-7 to lead at halftime 38-16. Kimsey added nine points to her total in the quarter. Ballew had four points and Hyatt and Deal had two each.
In the third period, Kimsey had four points. Hyatt had three and Ballew had two to squeeze by Sweetwater 9-7 to lead 47-23 after regulation play. Kimsey added four more points while Hyatt had three and Ballew had two.
Hyatt provided 11 of the 23 points Basin scored in the fourth quarter. One of those was a three-pointer. Ballew had seven points in the quarter while Deal had three and Kimsey had two.
“It all starts on defense for us and Riley Akens is really key for us in making that happen. I was also very pleased with our two young players who came in and did well, Kinsley Ross and Madden Beach,” Grimes said.
Kimsey finished with 21 points and was 3-for-9 from the free throw line. Hyatt finished with 20 points and was 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Ballew had 19 points and was 3-for-4 from the line. Deal had 10 points total and was 50 percent from the line.