Freshman girls hold on for win
Warren County’s freshman girls held off a fourth-quarter comeback Monday night to come away with a 48-42 home win over Cookeville.
The Lady Pioneers built a 12-point lead through the game’s first two quarters, only to see the Lady Cavaliers heat up in the fourth, opening the period with a 9-3 scoring run and cutting the WCHS edge to three.
Strong defense down the stretch helped Warren County close the door, however. A steal and coast-to-coast layup by Trista Dillard wound up being the game’s final field goal, but the play helped keep momentum in the Lady Pioneers’ favor, and forced Cookeville’s girls to foul to try to conserve clock.
Warren County led throughout Monday’s game, and five first-quarter points from McKenna Rhea helped the Lady Pioneers take a 12-9 lead by the end of the period. Rhea stayed hot in the second, putting up a 3-pointer and scoring six in the quarter as the Lady Pioneers went into the halftime break on top 26-19.
The Lady Cavaliers made things interesting early in the second half, cutting Warren County’s lead to three behind back-to-back baskets from Courtney Johnson. But WCHS bounced right back, answering with an 11-2 run to close out the third quarter with a 41-29 lead.
Rhea led the way for WCHS with 14 points, while Alysa Lankford scored seven of her nine-point total in the second half. Kara Youngblood also finished with nine, while Krista Dillard had six.
Trista Dillard and Lauren Patterson netted four each, and Nikki Griffith had two.
Johnson and Andrea Copeland had 14 each for Cookeville, which got eight points from post player Tasha Bass and two each from Lindsey Leatherwood, Jenna McKinnie and Mary Dodson.
The Lady Pioneers are scheduled to return to action Thursday, when they hit the road for a 6 p.m. game at Lebanon.