The Copper Basin Lady Cougars looked to stay on a roll Thursday, February 1, as they welcomed bitter rival Polk County to Copper Basin High School. The basketball game stayed close for most of the night, but Copper Basin increased their lead all night and finally pulled away in the fourth quarter for a big 41-31 win.
Head Coach Jeff Grimes was excited at his team’s ability to play focused and keep their momentum going as they get ready for the postseason. “Big win for our girls, our fans, and community. We always look forward to this game and we want to be working towards playing close to our best with the tournaments around the corner. Our girls played with a great focus on the defensive side of the ball and a great unselfishness offensively. Proud of their focus and effort.”
Alexis Hyatt and Kloie Ballew scored two points each for Basin and Cora Kimsey scored three, including a free throw. Zoe Green added a free throw of her own as the Lady Cougars led after the first quarter, 8-7.
Basin’s defense put the clamps on the Lady Wildcats in the second quarter, only giving up four points, while the offense stayed steady. Hyatt scored three more points and Kendra Deal knocked down two free throws. Green added two more from the free throw line as the Lady Cougar lead grew to 15-11 at halftime.
Hyatt got rolling, scoring six points in the third quarter and Kimsey added four. Green kept sinking free throws, drilling two more, while the Lady Cougar defense remained stifling.allowing the Basin lead to grow even more, as they led 27-15 heading to the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Polk tried to foul and put the Lady Cougars on the free throw line, but that didn’t work out that well, as Copper Basin sank 12 down the stretch with Deal and Hyatt draining three each, to keep the Lady ‘Cats from climbing back into the ballgame. Ballew and Riley Hall made two each, while Green and Kimsey made one apiece. Basin’s ability to make their free throws, along with a suffocating defense, sent Polk back home, as the Lady Cougars won a huge ballgame, 41-31.
Scoring
Summary:
1 2 3 4 -Final
PCHS 7 4 4 16 -31
CBHS 8 7 12 14 -41
Lady Cougar Scoring:
Hyatt 16, Kimsey 8, Green 6, Deal 5, Ballew 4, Hall 2.