The College Heights Christian Cougars pulled out a 50-46 win on Monday night against the visiting Pierce City Eagles at the College Heights Athletic Complex.
Until College Heights took a six-point lead at 50-44 on a pair of Libby Fanning free throws with 1 minute and 12 seconds remaining in regulation, each team led by as many five points, 30-25 for Pierce City in the third and 42-37 for College Heights in the fourth quarter.
Otherwise, it seemed like the teams were separated by a basket only all game.
Down the stretch, College Heights made the plays on both ends and the shots to win the game, while Pierce City had three possessions end up empty on turnovers.
“It was close throughout,” College Heights coach John Blankenship said. “We were up by two at halftime (23-21) and up by one at the end of the third quarter (36-35). We didn’t play extremely well throughout the game. We had spurts where we did really well. We had a couple defensive breakdowns that’s not typical for us, lost some of our offensive execution.
“Libby Fanning had a big game tonight, another double-double, and Jayli Johnson stepped up and played well. We had some key rebounds at crucial points in the game. Maddy Colin got a great rebound and made a good pass to Libby, and she finished. That gave us a couple-point spread (42-37) that really helped us out.”
Fanning and Johnson combined for 80 percent of College Heights’ 50 points, as Fanning scored a game-high 24 points and Johnson frequently weaved and worked her way to the basket to generate 16 more points.
“They’re both capable of doing that every night,” Blankenship said. “We’ve got some more kids that can step up and help us out with more scoring as well. When we’re all five on the court playing well together, our scoring is usually pretty balanced. Libby and Jayli, though, are our two go-to people.”
Addie Lawrence hit a 3-point shot near the end of the third quarter that broke a 33-all score and helped the Cougars take a one-point lead into the fourth.
Fellow senior Lauren Ukena had a steal and score early in the fourth to put College Heights ahead 38-35.
Lawrence and Colin each finished with three points and Ava Lett and Ukena each had two.
In a game that saw four players combine for 72 of the 96 total points scored (75 percent of the scoring), Pierce City seniors Madi Tindell and Olivia Stanphill combined for 32 with Tindell at 17 and Stanphill 15 points.
Pierce City led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter, last led 33-31 in the third, and earned a 44-all score on a Tindell basket in the fourth.
College Heights closed out the 2022 portion of the schedule with a 5-4 overall record and the Cougars return to action Jan. 3 on the road against Bronaugh.
“We’ve got some things we need to work on,” Blankenship said. “Our outside shooting is suffering a little bit right now, but we’re really close. Our shots are not far off. We start knocking down some of those outside shots, it’s going to open up things in the middle for Libby. If we can get our inside-outside game going, we’ll be tough to stop. Our guards are improving, they’re working on it, and I think we’re close to getting there.”
College Heights avoided a three-game losing streak and a losing record with Monday’s win.
