MONTICELLO – On Friday night the Lawrence County Lady Cougarscelebrated Senior Night in the LCHS Multi-Purpose Gym. They pickedup a hard-fought 49-42 Division 6-4A win over the archrivalBrookhaven Lady Panthers, behind a game-high 18 points from seniorforward Samantha Showers.

These same two teams will battle in the opening round of theDivision 6-4A Tournament Monday night in Forest Hill’s Shellie M.Bailey Coliseum, at 8 p.m.

The Lady Panthers (10-13, 5-7) opened the game with a 4-0 leadon a pair of baskets by junior guard Kearra Collins. Ole Brook headcoach Freda Craft saw her ballclub go ice-cold (18 percent on 0 of9 shooting) for the remainder of the opening 8 minutes; missing 13consecutive shots that carried into the second period. OnlyMaleysia Burnett’s free throws at the end of the first cooled offLCHS.

The Lady Cougars (14-11, 6-6) responded quickly with a 14-0scoring spurt; powered by Tiaria Griffin’s 4 points in the span.LCHS head coach Vicki Rutland’s ballclub carried a 16-6 cushioninto the second quarter.

Craft’s crew fought back in the second, outscoring Rutland’ssquad 14-11, but the Lady Panthers trailed 27-20 at theintermission. In the first half, Ole Brook committed 14 turnovers;which led to 8 Lady Cougar points.

“We gave up too many points off turnovers,” Coach Craftcommented. “We shot the ball poorly.” Craft was referring to herteam’s 31 percent (8 of 26) clip in the first half.

LCHS would take their turn in the game’s shooting woes; openingthe second half with a 9-minute scoreless streak. The Lady Pantherscould not take advantage of their short 6-0 scoring spurt; onlycutting their deficit to 1-point, 27-26 heading into the finalstanza.

Brookhaven deadlocked the game at 34-all on a Collins basketwith 4:05 left in the game. The Lady Panthers would never regainthe lead, as they found themselves on the wrong end of a 15-8 runto close out the game.

Rutland echoed Craft concerning the turnovers in the game.

“The points we scored off their turnovers were the difference inthe game,” said Coach Rutland. “They were unable to score off ofour mistakes.” Rutland was referring to her team’s 13 points off of27 Brookhaven miscues for the game. Brookhaven scored only 7 pointsoff of LCHS’s 26 errors.

Lending support for the Lady Cougars were sophomore TiariaGriffin who added 11 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Senior guardCandace Little pumped in 10 points and had 3 steals. AlexandriaHarris had 5 rebounds. LCHS outrebounded Brookhaven 32-24.

Collins paced Ole Brook with 16 points and 2 steals. SeniorAmber Dickey followed with 12 points, 6 assists and 4 steals.Freshman Shareeka Hill led off the backboards with 9 rebounds.Audora Hill had 2 steals.

Lady Cougar seniors recognized by Coach Rutland during post-gameceremonies were Sarah Jackson, Samantha Showers, Mary Hill, CandaceLittle, Shayanna Mikell, Nicole Grandberry and Latoya Showers.