Long drought leads to ?L? for Lady Pioneers

District 7-AAA?s co-leaders cruised to their second dominating defeat of the Lady Pioneers of the season Tuesday night, holding their hosts without a point for the equivalent of an entire half on the way to a 72-24 blowout.

Warren County (3-17, 0-9 district) showed some accuracy from the perimeter early, hitting three straight 3-pointers, including a banked-in shot from Kasey Owens with 5:42 to play in the first which gave the Lady Pioneers a 9-8 lead.

But it would be a long time ? 15 minutes and 59 seconds, to be exact ? before the Lady Pioneers reached double digits on the Dalton Gym scoreboard.

Cookeville went on a tear, closing the first quarter with 26 unanswered points and blanking their hosts 15-0 in the second to take a 49-9 halftime lead. WCHS, which hit just 3-of-16 from the field in the first half, including an 0-for-11 shooting percentage in the second quarter, trailed 54-9 before Brooke Bowman hit another 3-pointer with just under six minutes to play in the third quarter.

By that point, however, the Lady Cavaliers ? who improved to 19-4 on the season and 8-1 in district play ? had built a lead which was impossible to challenge. Cookeville closed the third quarter ahead by a 66-14 margin, and posted just six more points in the fourth ? more than enough to hand the Lady Pioneers their 10th loss in a row.

Rochelle Davidson and Ali Masters led the way for Cookeville with 16 points apiece, after combining for 24 in the first half. Erin Helton scored all 10 of her total prior to halftime, while Bianca Burnett finished with seven points. In all, 10 different Lady Cavaliers found their way into the scorebook, with their team hitting 31 of 53 attempts (58 percent), including a 6-of-11 mark from 3-point range. Defensively, they forced 22 Lady Pioneer turnovers, including 12 in the first quarter.

Warren County was led by Brooke Bowman?s eight-point night, which included a pair of 3-pointers and a traditional three-point play. Tessa King had six points, while Owens and Taylor Douglas had three each. The Lady Pioneers hit just 9-of-42 (21 percent), including four 3-pointers, and were 2-of-6 from the free-throw line.

WCHS travels to face the league?s other co-leader tonight, taking on Riverdale in Murfreesboro. Game time at the Johnny Parsley Gym is set for 6:30.