Piedmont Varsity Boys Earn Region Win
A balanced scoring attacked helped the Piedmont Academy varsity boys basketball team to a 45-35 home region win against Brentwood last Friday.
Ryan Holder led the team with 13 points while Bradley Greenwood finished with seven points. Sam Wright and Caleb Coffey both added six points and Brock Greenwood scored five.
With the regular season winding down each win is important for seeding in the upcoming region tournament.
The Cougars also received four points from J.T. Webb and two points each from Dylan Coe and Talon Anlin.
Piedmont’s varsity boys fell to Covenant Academy Saturday at home 47-41 in non-region action despite 15 points from Holder and 12 by Coffey.
Bradley Greenwood and Sam Younker both finished with six points while Anglin scored two.
The Lady Cougars fell to Brentwood 68-29. Sydney Stroud finished with seven points with Jayden Young scoring six and Alexis Dodson adding five. Haley Ann Frank and Maddie Waddleton both scored four points.
Saturday’s game against Covenant was closer but the Lady Cougars fell 35-30. Young finished in double figures with 10 points and Madison McCart added seven points. Dodson finished with six points while Deacon Robinson added four.
“It was a tough week,” said Lady Cougars coach Michael Wilson. “Right now, like in so many places, we need to get healthy and that goes not just for basketball but with school, church and everything else the girls do. It just helps the overall mood when things are as they should be.”
Illness played a role in games for the Lady Cougars recently but the coach hopes there may be a silver lining.
“I was very pleased with the play of those who were asked to step up,” Wilson said. “I thought Hannah Tyler and Maddie Waddleton did outstanding jobs against Brentwood and Covenant. Deacon Robinson had her best overall weekend of the season. Gracie Hunt gave us valuable minutes and did a great job of rebounding and creating turnovers. Typically we just focus on her shooting but she showed us she doesn’t mind getting in the paint and mixing it up. Jayden Young stepped up and gave us valuable points in both games.”
Other team members also contributed in various areas for the team.
“Sydney, Haley Ann, and Alexis did what they’ve done all year,” their coach said. “Those three out work and out compete everyone on the court. They don’t take possessions off and they leave it all on the court. What they have provided us on the defensive end all year with their steals, deflections and ability to disrupt opponents starting their offense is key to us only giving up around 35 points a game and for us to win games, that’s where it needs to be.
Despite competing short-handed against such a strong foe, there were improvements from the first matchup.
“Once everyone settled down Friday we had a good offensive night,” Wilson said. “We put up more points against Brentwood then in our first game and that’s something that going into the game wasn’t something I was so sure of. Defensively, we knew we would struggle stopping Brentwood without Madison McCart and Lucy Tuggle because we were so undersized but the effort that was given and the way we worked the ball offensively I thought we had one of our better nights. It was great experience for players who don’t see the bulk of our minutes to play a majority of the game against a team the caliber of Brentwood.”
The following night the team had scoring chances but was not able to cash in on those opportunities.
“That happens sometimes,” Wilson said. “I felt we played well enough to win. “We took care of what we needed to do but sometimes in a game you aren’t in control of all the variables and that also plays into the game. Ultimately, we were able to give others a lot of minutes and were able to ease Madison back into action and I think she played her best post defending game of the year.