By By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP
Advance Managing Editor
The Escambia Academy Lady Cougars traveled to Greenville during the Thanksgiving holiday to play in Fort Dale Academy's Thanksgiving Classic basketball tournament and came away with a split as they defeated FDA, 40-31, and then fell to Wilcox Academy, 49-23.
The Lady Cougars led Fort Dale throughout the contest. They took a 10-5 lead in the first and then the game tightened to 16-13 by the half. EA earned a little more breathing room in the third period as they opened up to a 29-22 lead.
Head coach Chad Prewett said despite the closeness of the score, he felt his team was always in control of the game.
The main reason for the victory was the Lady Cougars' defense.
Leading scorers for the Lady Cougars were Holly Mack with 15, Jessica Gibbs with 10 and Jennifer Martin had nine points.
In the second game, on Saturday, EA were paired up with defending 2A state champs Wilcox Academy. In contrast to the previous game, this game was dominated by Wilcox as they rolled to a 49-23 win.
Things went bad for the Lady Cougars right off the bat. They only scored one basket in the first period as Wilcox built a 15-2 lead. However, they did manage to fill that gap somewhat as they outscored Wilcox in the second, 13-8, to cut the lead to 23-15. But, they were unable to get any closer as Wilcox took a 37-21 lead after three periods.
Leading scorers for the Lady Cougars were Mack with nine points and Bethany Hawkins with eight.
Being dominated in a ballgame is something that this group of Lady Cougars do not have much experience with.
The Lady Cougars travel to Autauga Academy Thursday night.