Lady Cougars Fall to Brentwood

The Piedmont Academy’s varsity girls basketball team faced an opponent it may very well see in the state tournament.

The Lady Cougars fell to Brentwood 59-35 in a road contest in Sandersville. Haley Ann Frank paced Piedmont with 10 points.

Sydney Stroud added 10 points while teammate Maddle Waddleton scored four.

Brentwood jumped out to an 18-9 lead after the first quarter and the Lady Eagles had taken complete control by halftime with a 33-9 advantage.

“We came out flat for some reason or another,” coach Michael Wilson said.

“I’m not sure why but Brentwood is not the place to come out with anything less than your best game. They did a great job of taking advantage of how we came out in the first quarter. They are big and can shoot and then their outside game picked up and our heads were spinning in the first half. They are as good of a team as we will play and I hope the girls realized what kind of effort is needed each possession of the game to beat a team like that.”

The coach, in fact, predicted leading into the game how tough of an opponent Brentwood would be.

“We were better In the second half but our first half mistakes were too much to overcome. I was proud how we responded and fought in the second half,” Wilson said. “Brentwood didn’t let up and we looked more like the team we are. Defensively, we were not on the same page in the first half. We didn’t rotate, we didn’t talk and we didn’t do the things we have been doing all year. I’m confident we will be ready to play this week and I’m confident the next game we play against a team the caliber of Brentwood we will be more mentally ready to win.”

Peyton Prince paced Brentwood with a game-high 22 points.

Hannah Tyler added three points for Piedmont while Mallory Kelly, Haiden Crews, Jayden Young and Madison Johnson all scored two points.

The Lady Cougars returned to the court on Monday defeating Flint River 35-27 on the road in Woodbury. Stroud led the team with 15 points while Frank finished with nine points. Hannah Tyler added six points in the victory.

Piedmont jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead.

The Lady Cougars will travel to John Milledge Academy today, Feb. 6 and to St. George on Friday, Feb. 7. Games begin at 6 p.m. each night.