By By Matthew Nascone
Putting a puzzle together requires having all the pieces. The Escambia Academy Lady Cougars were not able to finish their run at a third straight Alabama Independent School Association Class 2A state title due in part to a few missing pieces.
The Lady Cougars lost 64-49 to Kingwood Academy in the first round of the Regional tournament.
"We had one girl injured, one girl sick and two other girls out and that really hurt us," EA head coach Heath Gibson said.
Heather White injured her knee in the AISA Class 2A East Region championship game Feb. 3, Ellen Corman missed the game because of illness and Ashley Smith and Holly Harrison were out for personal reasons.
"Missing four players really put a bind on us and with the added 10 feet because of the court at Huntingdon College our girls got winded and we didn't have substitutes for them," Gibson said.
Gibson said he did not want to use the missing girls as an excuse and that other factors weighed in to the loss.
"We did not shoot the ball well in the first half," he said. "We could not buy a bucket."
Hanna Phillips of Kingwood scored 37 points, but Gibson said his girls did a good job of containing her in the first half.
"We held her to 11 points in the first half, but she was on fire in the second half and she knocked down every shot she took," Gibson said. "We had to go to a man defense and we still couldn't stop her."
Lori Bonds led EA with 24 points. Allison Thomas poured in 14 points, Jaime Drew added seven point and Clare Jones and Jordan Jaye added two points each.
Gibson always finds the positive.
"It was disappointing, but it is something that will only make us better and that is how we look at things," Gibson said.