By By Matthew Nascone
Another victory slipped right through the Escambia Academy Lady Cougars’ fingertips Thursday night against the Monroe Academy Lady Volunteers.
EA led 42-41 with 24 seconds to play in the game, but let Monroe steal the lead and the game 46-42.
The Lady Cougars fought back-and-forth with Monroe all night and trailed the Lady Volunteers 23-15 at halftime.
The MA lead grew to 33-25 after three quarters, but the Lady Cougars never quit and tied the score at 40-40 after sophomore Kay Leigh Miller drew a charge and went the length of the floor for the score.
Monroe took a 41-40 lead with 1:03 to go in the game and EA took the 42-41 lead with 24 seconds, but was outscored 5-0 in the final seconds of the game.
Payne said the main problem for the Lady Cougars in the first half was shooting.
The Lady Cougars held an 8-2 lead at one point in the first quarter, but that was down to 8-7 by the end of the quarter and the Lady Volunteers outscored EA 16-7 in the second quarter and 17-11 in the third quarter.
Monroe went cold in the fourth quarter and allowed EA back in the game, but the 16-6 advantage in the fourth quarter for the Lady Cougars was too little, too late.
Sophomore Jordan Jaye led the Lady Cougars with 15 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and one steal.
Senior Clare Jones added 13 points, three assists, three steals and one rebound. Miller also cracked the double-digit mark in points with 10 and she added three rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Junior Sara Beth Davis and freshman Amber Huskey each contributed 2 points. Davis added three rebounds, three assists and one steal and Huskey had one rebound and one steal.
Sophomore Jennifer Morris had three assists and two rebounds.
The Lady Cougars took on Patrician Academy at home Friday and the results will be in an upcoming Advance. Next up for the team is a trip to Evergreen and the opening game of AISA Class AA, Region 1, Area 1 action against Sparta Academy.