Bowling Green — The Somerset Christian girls basketball team started off the season on a winning note, downing the Lady Knights of Victory Christian Academy 44-21.
The Lady Cougars broke open a close game using a tenacious, trapping defense that led to 30 turnovers by Victory Christian for the game, held Victory to 25 percent from the field and fueled the deciding 20-1 run that pushed the Somerset Christian lead to 28 points with three minutes left in the game.
“We thought we could wear them down with our intensity and quickness and that's exactly what happened.” Somerset Christian girls coach Jamie Middleton said. “Our pressure defense started to fatigue them mentally and physically in the second half and that's when we also started making shots, so things just snowballed from there. We were able to get our guards in the open floor to use their quickness and our post play began to improve as well.”
Middleton was happy with starting the season 1-0 with such a young team, which features three freshmen, a sophomore, and a junior in the starting five line-up, and an 8th-grader seeing over 20 minutes of action. However, he cautioned there is plenty of room for improvement.
“We missed so many assignments on defense and blocking out on rebounds that I could write a novel,” Middleton said in jest. “However, that is to be expected this early in the season and with such a young team. Our program is still in the infancy stages and we’ll cherish every win we can get.”
“Our team was so excited to open up with a win and to see their hard work finally starting to pay off,” Middleton added. “We’ll continue to improve each day and hopefully be more competitive with the top teams in the KCAA.”
Lauren Dungan led Somerset with a game-high 14 points and also pulled down 8 rebounds. The balanced Lady Cougar attack also included Emma Frost 9, Jessica Bartley 6, Dakota Stringer 4, Shea O'Hair 4, Ashley Glass 3, Alex Bartley 2, Audrey Moore 2. Dakota Stringer had 6 steals for Somerset, while Jessica Bartley had 5 assists.
The Lady Cougars return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 1, as they take on the KCAA two-time defending state runner-up Trinity Christian Academy in Lexington.
“Trinity Christian is athletic and has a deep bench,” Middleton explained. “We don’t match up well on paper, but that is why they play the games. We’ll play hard, do our best, and see what happens. Our girls won’t back down from anyone.”
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Somerset Christian junior Jessica Bartley scored 6 points and dished out 5 assists in the lady Cougars’ 44-21 win over Victory Christian Academy. Steve Cornelius Photo
Lady Cougars open season with road win
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