By By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP
Advance Managing Editor
After a horrible start to a contest with Faith Academy, the Escambia Academy Lady Cougars' valiant effort fell short as thy dropped the game to the reigning 3A state champions by a score of 46-39.
EA's defense played well in the first quarter, allowing only eight points to Faith shooters. But, the offense couldn't get anything going as they fell to an 8-3 deficit by the end of the first period.
The second period was still sluggish for the Lady Cougar offense. In addition, their defense let up somewhat too as they gave up 13 points to make the halftime score 21-8.
The second half proved much better for EA as their shots finally began to fall. In the third period, the Lady Cougars outscored Faith 21-14 and cut the lead to only six points, 35-29.
Head coach Chad Prewett said he was proud of how his team battled through the tough start to get themselves back in position.
Leading scorers for the Lady Cougars were Holly Mack with 18 points, all of which came in the second half, Jessica Gibbs with nine points and Jennifer Martin added six points.
Gibbs led the team in rebounds with 13 and Martin pulled down eight boards.
Prewett said a lot of things went wrong in the first half for EA, but added that good defense was a constant.
The Lady Cougars will get another opportunity against Faith as they travel to Mobile on Tuesday night.