By By Matthew Nascone
Winning is always good, but for the Escambia Academy Lady Cougars it has been a natural motion the past two years. EA has snagged two Alabama Independent School Association state title in two years.
On Jan. 27 the Lady Cougars clinched a chance to make it three in a row. They defeated Jackson Academy 67-44 to finish a perfect season in area play at 6-0 and grabbed an automatic bid to the state championship.
EA (14-8, 6-0 in AISA Class 2A East Region play) struggled in the beginning to get a big lead, but came away with a huge victory.
"It started off as a tight game with both teams battling back and forth," EA head coach Heath Gibson said. "We stretched the lead right before halftime and we woke up in the second half."
The 'wake up' call the Lady Cougars received included four three-pointers converted by Lori Bonds. Bonds again led EA with 31 points. Gibson said with the scoring of Bonds and the effort of the other girls EA was able to jump out to a sizable lead.
"We took control of the game in the fourth quarter," Gibson said. "We got hot on defense and our press caused turnovers as the other team got winded."
Jaime Drew and Clare Jones added nine points each, Courtney Smith contributed eight points, Allison Thomas poured in six points and Ashley Smith contributed four points.
The girls played Taylor Road and the results will be in Sunday's Advance. The area tournament begins Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. for the Lady Cougars.
In boy's action
The Cougars also grabbed a win in Jackson on Jan. 27.
"We came out and played hard from the start," EA head coach Kevin Woods said. "We actually had our shots falling for a change, it was great."
Woods also said the rebounding job done by the Cougars was fantastic. EA snagged 42 rebounds and Woods said this is the key to winning games.
"Every game we have grabbed at least 30 rebounds we have won with the exception of one," he said. "And we lost that game in the final seconds."
Bruce Smith and Jeffery Taylor led the scoring for the Cougars with 11 points each. Brian Huskey added nine points, Cody Norton added eight points, Wesley Channell and Joe Drew poured in six points each, Matt Quimby added five points and Andrew Lambeth chipped in four points.