By By Lindsey Sherrill
Staff Writer
All four of the Escambia Academy Cougar basketball teams celebrated victories over Sparta Academy on Friday night at home. Leading the overall Cougar scoring for the night was Lori Bonds who scored twenty-one points with four rebounds for the JV Lady Cougars and fourteen points for the varsity girls later in the evening.
For the JV girls, who topped Sparta 34-22, Bonds led in scoring, followed by Morgan Dorriety with five points and Jamie Drew, Ellen Corman, Courtney Smith, and Alison Thomas with two points each. Corman led the team in rebounds with seven.
The junior varsity boys topped Sparta, but scores and stats were not available at press time.
The Lady Cougars, who were defeated by Sparta last weekend in Monroville, evened the record with a 69-51 victory over the tough Sparta team. Senior Jessica Gibbs led the team with 19 points. She was followed by sophomore Meagan Jackson who scored 17. Bonds scored 14 points to bring her total to 35 for the evening. Kaylie Castleberry scored nine points, Kerrianne Castleberry scored three, Rayleen Miller, Alison Thomas, and Courtney Smith each scored two points, and Jamie Drew had one point.
For the Escambia Academy Cougar varsity boys team, the evening got off to a slow start. After nearly two minutes of play without a score by either team, Sparta took the lead. However, the Cougars were able to overcome the early Spartan momentum to win the game 74-51. Zack Thomas led the team with 23 points, followed by Cole Norton with 22. Jace Beasley scored 13 points, Robert Hardy had 11, David Daniel scored six, Bradford Price, Cody White, and Billy McCann each scored four points, Zack Smith and Stephen Shirley had three points apiece, and Chris Moore scored two.
The Escambia Academy Varsity basketball teams will play on Jan. 3 and 4 as they host the EA New Years Classic. The junior varsity will be in action again as all four teams face Monroe away on Jan. 7 at 4 p.m.