By By Matthew Nascone
Andrew Lambeth and Cody Norton continued to lead the Escambia Academy boys' basketball team as the team took down the AISA Class 3A Monroe Academy Volunteers, 56-48, Thursday.
"Andrew and Cody are our main scorers and they got some good looks," EA head coach Kevin Woods said.
The Cougars (7-7) trailed early in the first quarter, but took control of the game by the end of the quarter, leading 19-18. The lead was up to 38-27 by halftime. Lambeth was on fire from behind the three-point line, connecting on four three-pointers in the game and finishing with 26 points. Norton was the second leading scorer with 13 points.
Woods said the team accomplished the task he has been trying to get to them do for the past two weeks.
"I have asked them to give me a solid defensive effort and tonight's effort was what I was asking for," Woods said. "And we also hit the boards well and that is a key to victory. Any time you can rebound the ball and not give the other team second chances you have a good chance of winning."
The Cougars kept the pressure on Monroe and opened their lead to 10 points at 48-38 by the end of the third quarter.
"We stayed focus all game and kept the pressure on them and it ended in a victory for our team," Woods said.
Rounding out the scoring for the Cougars was Tyler Harrison with six points, Joe Drew with five points and Blake Kirk with three points.
Monroe 42 – Lady Cougars 34
The Lady Cougars were not able to pull out a victory in Monroeville against the Monroe Academy Lady Volunteers, losing 42-34, Thursday.
"Our girls played a great game, but we got down and could not come back," EA head coach Andy Gorum said. "But Monroe beat us in the third quarter and we could not recover. But we did make a good run at them, outscoring them 14-6 in the fourth quarter."
Katie Smith had a good defensive game, according to Gorum and foul trouble plagued the Lady Cougars (8-6) from keeping their starting five on the court. The physicality of the game led to the foul trouble and EA's leading scorer, Clare Jones fouled out halfway through the fourth quarter.
Jones still scored 12 points even though she was in foul trouble for a good portion of the game. Smith scored five points, Alaina Arnold and Heather White added four points each and Jordan Jaye contributed two points.
JV Cougars 22 – Monroe 18
The JV Cougars of Escambia Academy did not score until 1:20 showed on the clock, but they pulled their game out against Monroe Academy, 22-18.
EA did not lead at the end of any quarter but the last one. In the low scoring game, the first points were not scored until there was less than two minutes showing on the clock and the score at the end of the first quarter was 5-4 in Monroe's favor after the first quarter.
The score was tied at 15-15 entering the fourth quarter. A pressure defense led to the 22-18 final.
"We were not hitting shots like we normally did so we turned to a press defense to have easy shots and I think we surprised them with the press," Woods said. "We turned that press into six points near the end. I was proud of them for how they played because they did not make any fundamental errors and that is what we have been working on."
James White scored 15 points and Austin Lee added seven points for the JV Cougars.
JV Lady Cougars 35 – Monroe 15
Escambia Academy JV Lady Cougars' head coach Larry Bonds and his team had no trouble dispatching the JV Lady Volunteers, 35-15, Thursday in Monroeville.
"It was an overall good effort out there and I was very pleased," Bonds said. "Our girls worked out six times over the holiday break and it showed out there on the court."
The girls had a 25-11 lead at halftime and allowed only four points in the second half, never surrendering the lead again en route to their eighth victory of the season.
Kayleigh Miller led the way with eight points, Taylor Helton contributed seven points, Rachel Fuller added six points, Amber Huskey scored five points, Kristen Matthews added four points, Paige Allen scored two points and Ashleigh Geck had one point.
Escambia Academy traveled to take on Patrician Academy Friday night and the results will be in an upcoming Advance. The Cougars and Lady Cougars travel to Evergreen to face Sparta in their opening area game Tuesday beginning at 4 p.m.