The South Central Lady Cougars opened up play in the National Trail Conference tournament with a 61-47 win over North Clay on Monday morning. The eighth-seeded Lady Cougars jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead before ninth-seeded North Clay hit their first basket of the game. South Central’s lead would be cut down to just two points, 11-9, after a 9-4 Cardinals run when Percilla Reid hit a shot at the buzzer to make it 13-9 to end the quarter. Junior Kaitlyn Swift would hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers on three consecutive possessions to push the South Central lead out to 22-11 and Taegen Webster went on a five point run herself to further push the Cougar lead out. North Clay was able to cut into the Cougar lead but for the second quarter in a row, South Central would hit a shot at the buzzer as a rebound and putback by Brooke Cowger made it 31-15 at halftime. North Clay began to get some shots to fall early in the third, again cutting into the Cougar lead, but Lauren Johnson would heat up for the Cougars with 9 points in the quarter and South Central maintained a 13 point lead, 42-29 at the end of the third quarter. The game for the Cougars would come down to two things in the fourth quarter, hitting free throws on the offensive end and continue to hold North Clay star Miah Ballard below her scoring average. The Cougars got the job done at the free throw line, going 14 of 18 from the line. Ballard would break out in the quarter for 14 points, but the Cougars would be able to hang on to their double digit cushion and close out the 61-47 win. South Central moves to 11-9 on the season and advance on to the quarterfinal round where they will have to face top-seeded Altamont at 6:00pm tonight.
South Central Scoring:
Kaitlyn Swift – 20 points
Taegan Webster – 20 points
Lauren Johnson – 15 points
Brooke Cowger – 4 points
Percilla Reid – 2 points
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