The Copper Basin Lady Cougars’ history making basketball season came to an end Wednesday, March 12.
The Lady Cougars squared off against the Richland Lady Raiders, the teams representing two of the final eight in the state basketball championship chase. Both earned the right to compete as their respective region champions.
Richland brought both a powerful offense and strong defense to the contest, played on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The Lady Raiders used their strengths to lead 13-5 at the end of the first quarter, and stretched that lead to 24-10 at halftime.
Copper Basin came out of the locker room at halftime to turn in their strongest eight-minute performance of the game. Behind four points from Kloie Ballew and three free throws from Alexis Hyatt, the Lady Cougars scored 12 points. Kendra Deal and Zoe Green both had two points in the quarter and Cora Kimsey added a free throw.
Despite the Lady Cougars comeback, Richland added another two points to its lead, scoring 14 in the quarter and leading 38-22 going into the final eight minutes.
That last quarter saw seven Richland points against three from Copper Basin, the game ending 45-25 in Richland’s favor.
Copper Basin wrapped up the season with an 18-9 overall record, region championship, and 5-1 worksheet and second place in the district.
In other state basketball championship action, the Van Buren Lady Eagles, who Basin defeated for the region title, won their games over M. Middle College and Coalfield to advance to the championship game Saturday against Greenfield, who knocked Richland out of the tournament in the final four round. Van Buren fell just three points shy of the state title, falling to Greenfield 49-46.