Playing away at Butler High school on Dec. 12, the Lady Cats showed great footwork within playing defense. The Cats scored 14 points within the first quarter to Butlers’ 8.

Jasmine Rivers displayed great shooting by scoring 12 of 14 points in the first quarter. She ended the half with a total of 15 points and the Lady Cats leading 27-17. The Cats went on to beat the Butler Bulldogs by a score of 61-41.

Rivers scored a total of 22 points to earn player of the game, followed by Keyanne McCray with 12 points. Jaida Robinson ended up pulling down 15 rebounds for a career high.

This win gave the Lady Cats confidence going into Friday’s game with the Monroe Red Hawks. The Lady Cats started out with much aggression and great energy, but the coaches knew that in order to win it, we had to continuously play great defense and protect the ball. Even though in the first half, the Cats kept the lead, they continued to struggle in the post with rebounding. It seemed as if the Red Hawks would get at least one offensive rebound their every possession. Within the first quarter, the Cats scored 16 points to the Red Hawks’ 9. This led to half time ending with a long 3-pointer by Chanel Pauldo, who was the leading scorer with 9 points for the first half.

Even though momentum was on the Cats’ side going into the locker room, the halftime discussion was based on that the game was far from being over; to treat the score as if it was 0 to 0. The 3rd quarter began by the Cats leading guard, Alderson, quickly picking up 2 fouls to make a total of 4 and had to be taken out the majority of the 3rd quarter. The Red Hawks were displaying a full court press that got countless turnovers and they ended up scoring a total of 25 points to the Cats 12. Leading for the Red Hawks were Asha Jordan by scoring 10 straight points while driving to the basket.

The Lady Cats became frustrated and was not executing well on defense or offense.Two back-to-back timeouts were called to try and calm the Cats down and it somewhat worked. The third quarter ended with the Cats leading the Red Hawks by a score of 46 to 45. The fourth quarter began with the Red Hawks continuing with their comeback, therefore went ahead by 8 points. Within the 4th quarter, Alderson picked up her 5th foul, and later on Robinson also picked up her 5th foul, but the Cats began to get some momentum and began to score and play pretty good on defense.

The Red Hawks’ leading players Jordan, and Barrett finally picked up their fifth fouls and that somewhat evened play. With 17 seconds left in the game, the score was tied 60 to 60. Rivers stole the ball and was fouled in the act of shooting, leaving 12 seconds. Rivers went to the line and knocked down both of her free throws to put the Lady Cats up by 2. The Cats picked up and the Red Hawks inbounded the ball; went down and got a shot off but missed, yet, ended up getting the long rebound and a time out was called with 6 seconds left on the clock.

The Cats’ discussion was not to give up a non-contested three, to stick with their man, just stick with their man, and watch for the screens. The Red Hawks set a screen at the free throw line, split the defender to get to the wing behind the 3, help was late and Roddy (#24) got the shot off and made the 3-point basket to win the game.

“The shot was unbelievable, but it was good,” Coach Deloris Covington said via email. “The Cats played a hard heart throbbing game; there was much fan support and I am proud of the passionate play that the Lady Cats displayed.”

The Bearcats travel to Monroe on Wednesday (Varsity only), play starts at 6 p.m. They will also play in the Y.C. Winborn Holiday Classic in Rock Hill, S.C., at Rock Hill High School on Thursday and Friday, and Sunday, once they make it to the championship. The tournament will begin with the girls on Thursday playing at 2:30 p.m. and the boys at 5:30 p.m.