By By ZACH BROOKS
Sports Writer
The Escambia Academy Cougar boys and girls varsity basketball teams made a very dominate showing in their wins over Crenshaw Academy at Crenshaw last Friday night.
The boys and girls won very convincingly over Crenshaw. The girls won 64-43 to improve their impressive record to 12-4, while the boys also won 48-44 to improve their record to 7-9.
The Cougars had to play this week's game without leading scorer Justin Shirley.
Shirley sprained his ankle in last month's New Years Eve tournament. He is expected to be out for at least another week.
The game against Crenshaw started out badly for the Cougars as they could not find their touch in the first quarter and by quarter's end were trailing Jay 10-6.
Both the Cougars and Crenshaw started to come out of their shooting slumps in the second quarter as both teams put up respectable scores.
Crenshaw however, outscored the Cougars 17-11 to take a 33-21 lead into half-time.
The Cougars came out of the locker rooms in the second half like their was no tomorrow. They played tenacious defense and their offense started to come around and score some, and by quarters end they had cut Crenshaw's lead to three points, 37-34.
The Cougars truly owned the fourth quarter. They made some tough-pressure shots and played tough defense, on their way to outscoring Crenshaw 14-7 for the quarter and winning the game 48-44.
The Cougars defense really stood up in the second half. They only allowed Crenshaw 11 points for the entire second half on their way to the tough win.
With Justin Shirley down for the game, the Cougars needed somebody to step up big and take over the scoring load. And step up the Cougars did.
Robert Hardy had the biggest game of his young career against Crenshaw. He scored a career-high 19 points and was the leading scorer for both teams.
David Daniel also had a good game for the Cougars, scoring 12 points and providing an inside presence on offense and defense.
Bradford Price also got in on the action with eight points on the night.
Adam Wallace lead Crenshaw in points with 16 points on the night. Jason Wallace and Turna Kimbro followed for Crenshaw with 14 and seven points respectively.
The Lady Cougars made a dominant statement with their 64-43 clobbering of Crenshaw Academy.
The game started out sloppy for both sides as neither team could shoot the ball well, as you could tell by the Cougar's slim lead, 8-4, heading into the second quarter.
Both teams got out of their funk in the second quarter. Both the Lady Cougars and Crenshaw scored some in the second quarter, but Crenshaw scored more and tied the game up, 18-18, leading into half-time.
The Cougars used the third quarter to run away with the lead from Crenshaw. The Lady Cougars scored 23 points in the quarter to take a 41-25 lead heading into a crucial final period.
The fourth quarter was no different for Crenshaw, as the Lady Cougars killed any thought of a comeback with another dominate, 23 points performance to win the game, 64-43.
The Lady Cougars used a pair of very strong performances by Jennifer Martin and Jessica Gibbs on their way to victory.
Martin and Gibbs both had a double double on the night. Martin led the Cougars in points and rebounds.
She had a game best 13 rebounds along with her very impressive 26 points. Gibbs was also impressive in scoring 14 points along with a career-high 12 rebounds.
Holly Mack only had 12 points on the night, but more than made up for it with her game-high eight assists.
Jenna Tidwell lead Crenshaw Academy in points with 14 points on the night. Lindsey Sport and Holly Turner followed for Crenshaw with 13 and 12 points in the loss.