Piedmont Basketball Earns Sweep

The Piedmont Academy basketball teams earned much-needed wins Tuesday night as the Cougars and Lady Cougars swept visiting Monsignor Donovan.

The Lady Cougars took a 25-23 overtime victory in which coach Wes Tanner described as a “huge win for us.”

“It was a defensive struggle the whole game,” Tanner said. “Most of the time when you hear that in a girls game you think a ton of turnovers and that was not the case. It was just two teams forcing some difficult looks and we were fortunate enough to make one more than they did.”

Hailey Burnham scored nine points Tuesday followed by Lanie King with eight and Heather Tyler with six. Carley Cain finished with two points.

Boys coach Josh Daher was also pleased by his team’s effort Tuesday.

“I am really proud of our boys,” Daher said. “We played pretty bad offensively early on, but we played really hard defensively and stayed in the game. We knew if we kept it close the looks would start falling sooner or later.

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“We came out in the second half and knocked some baskets down that we didn’t make in the first half. We took the lead midway through the third and never looked back. We are really starting to understand how important it is to be disciplined. I am just really proud of the team. We have a big weekend ahead of us so it was really nice getting this win.”

The Piedmont boys posted a 43-35 victory Tuesday as three players were in double figures. Justin Wilson scored 13 points followed by Davis Kimball with 12 and Jakey Dunagan with 10. Bobby Mitched added eight points.

Prior to Tuesday night’s action, Piedmont swept Windsor Saturday. The boys earned a 45-39 win while the Lady Cougars emerged with a 47-34 victory.

Mitchell’s 22 points helped lead the Piedmont boys, who trailed 25-18 at halftime. Mitchell had five 2-point baskets and three from 3-point range in the win in addition to making three free throws. Wilson finished with 14 points.

Piedmont had cut Windsor’s lead to two points after the third quarter and then went on a 16-8 run in the game’s final eight minutes. Kimball added six points while Zach Beggs finished with three.

The Lady Cougars were led by Lanie King’s 15 points in their win Saturday. Burnham added 13 points while Tyler finished with eight.

After a slow start, the Lady Cougars outscored Windsor 20-8 in the second quarter. King help lead the charge in the second quarter with three 3-pointers. Cheyenne Galloway finished the game with four points while Beth Anne Mahaffey, Savannah McGinnis and Cain all added two points. Kacy Swart added a free throw.

“Saturday against Windsor was a great building block for what we need to do better,” Tanner said. “We won despite very poor free throw shooting. That’s the next area that has to get better.

We’ve got to knock down those free throws when the chance presents itself and finish games. These past games have been a great couple of wins.”

The previous night saw Piedmont travel to Warrenton to face Briarwood. The Lady Cougars fell 42-24 while the boys dropped a 55-39 contest.

Mitchell once again led the boys with 23 points. Drew Collins finished with six points followed by Kimball with five and Wilson with four. Piedmont trailed 25-14 at halftime.

Burnham’s 14 points were not enough for the Lady Cougars in the road game. King finished with three points while Savannah Holifield, McGinnis and Mahaffey all scored two points.

Piedmont returns to action Friday when it travels to Gatewood (6 p.m.) The teams will then host Brentwood Saturday beginning at 2 p.m.