Cougar Ladies Advance Past First Round
The Piedmont Academy Lady Cougars earned an opening-round win in the Region 4-AA tournament Monday in LaGrange.
Piedmont defeated Mount Pisgah 54-24 behind a career-high 19 points from senior Heather Lewis. Mandi Pulliam added 13 points for the Lady Cougars.
The game was tied at six after the first quarter before Piedmont got things rolling.
“We played well the last three quarters,” said coach Chip Champion. “It was a solid performance. We are playing our best basketball at the right time. We don’t even look like the same team as the one at the beginning of the season.”
Monday’s win advanced the Lady Cougars to the second round for a showdown against No. 1 seed LaGrange.
Prior to opening the region tournament, the Piedmont girls fell to Heritage 50-47 in double overtime last Friday. Pulliam led the team with 18 points while Lewis scored 13.
Diana Hardy made a basket at the end of regulation to force overtime. In the first overtime period, Lewis scored five points while Pulliam added two.
“We lost the game but in some ways it felt like a win,” Champion said.
“We got experience in a big game. We trailed by six in the fourth quarter but never gave in. That says a lot about this team and how much we have improved.”
The Lady Cougars also fell to West Georgia last Thursday 33-25. Lewis was the leading scorer for Piedmont with seven while Carrie Tucker added six.
The Piedmont Academy boys closed out their regular season on a down note falling 45-43 to West Georgia Christian and 42-24 to Heritage.
West Georgia Christian won on a basket at the buzzer offsetting a second-half comeback attempt by Piedmont who trailed 31-11 at halftime.
“We outscored them by 18 in the second half, but we got in too deep of a hole,” Champion said.
Ben Worthen led Piedmont with 20 points while Andrew Fisher finished with 13.
With little energy remaining the following day, the Cougars couldn’t keep track with Heritage. Worthen paced the Cougars with 11 points.
The Piedmont boys were scheduled to open play in the region tournament Wednesday against fourth-seeded Flint River in LaGrange.