By By Matthew Nascone
Her name is Bonds, Lori Bonds.
She is the Escambia Academy guard who dropped 33 points Jan. 3 in the Lady Cougars 60-36 victory against the Monroe Academy Volunteers.
"She had a big night and she helped us in a big way," EA head coach Heath Gibson said. "She only scored one three-pointer, the rest of her points came off of lay-ups. She took it to the hole with authority all night."
Gibson said he believes the play of Bonds is the reason the Lady Cougars have been winning games.
"She sparks our team," he said. "When she goes, we all go and that is good for our team."
Gibson said the team was able to roll to victory on the play of Bonds and the stifling defense they played. However, the Lady Cougars had to change their scheme on defense.
"We did not force many turnovers with our full-court press," Gibson said. "But we played really good half-court defense."
The score at halftime was 30-19, but Gibson said the game was a lot closer than the scored showed.
"The game was a close one going into halftime, but our girls took control in the second half and pulled away," Gibson said.
The leadership of a team's seniors is key to success and Gibson said he is confident in his group of upper classmen.
"I have seven seniors and four of them start for me," Gibson said. "I rely on them to be the coaches on the court and they have done a good job so far."
Other senior starters, Courtney Smith, Allison Thomas and Jamie Drew, all contributed in the win against Monroe. Thomas scored nine points, Drew added seven points and Smith dropped in three points.
Other scorers in the game were Heather White with three points, Katie Smith, Ashley Smith and Clare Jones with two points and Ellen Corman with one point.
The win gets the Lady Cougars over the .500 hump with an 8-7 record.
The JV girls grabbed their ninth win of the season with a 30-22 victory.
The score was 7-7 at the halftime break and head coach Larry Bonds said the girls pulled out a close one.
"We played great defense, but we couldn't find the basket in the first half," Bonds said. "We talked at halftime and came out and played a good second half."
Kayleigh Miller was the star for the Lady Cougars, notching seven assists and five blocked shots. Miller is the shortest player on the team, but Bonds said that doesn't seem to make a difference.
"She is our little sports car, but she will get up behind a shooter and block the ball," Bonds said.
Macey Singleton led the scoring for the first time of the season with 11 points in the game, all in the second half. She also added two rebounds and three steals. Jordan Jaye scored seven points, led the team with 11 rebounds and was the only starter with no turnovers.
Bonds said Andrea Nall played the best overall game. She recorded eight points, two rebounds, six steals and one blocked shot.
Alaina Arnold scored two points, grabbed two rebounds, contributed two assists and snatched one steal. Courtney Cooper had two points and one rebound and Sara Beth Davis grabbed one rebound.
The Lady Cougar JV team faces Sparta Tuesday in Canoe. With a win against Sparta the girls could lock up a trip to the AISA JV state tournament Jan. 21.
The girls had a game against Clarke Prep, but the Clarke Prep forfeited the game because they could not field a team.
In boys action
The varsity boy's team lost 72-53 to Monroe. Head coach Kevin Woods said his guys didn't shoot the ball well in the second half and that led to the loss.
"We were winning 30-21 at halftime, but we came out in a lull in the second half," Woods said. "We had a four- or five-minute stretch without a basket and that is never good. We didn't turn the ball over, but we couldn't make a shot and we were dominated on the boards."
After leading at halftime, the Cougars were outscored 51-23 in the second half.
"I don't know what happened," Woods said. "We got into the double bonus and I don't remember them missing any free throws. It was just one of those nights."
Andrew Lambeth led the Cougars with 19 points, Jeffrey Taylor added 12 points, Cody Norton contributed eight points, Matt Ash dropped in seven points, Bruce Smith had five points and Wesley Channell had two points.
The boy's JV team won 40-24. Bradley Grant led the JV Cougars in scoring with 17 points. Blake Kirk and Seth Lassiter chipped in eight points and James White added seven points.
"They played really well," Woods said. "I was especially proud of them because they played good basketball. They once again played excellent defense and they hit the boards well."