Piedmont Basketball Girls Win Four in a Row

Another standout effort from Hailey Burnham helped the Piedmont Academy girls basketball team to a 41-17 win against John Hancock on the road Monday.

The victory improved the Lady Cougars to 4-1 during the early portion of the season. Carley Cain added nine points while Rachel Maletz finished with eight.

“We got off to a slow start and were up only four at half and not playing well at all,” said coach Wes Tanner. “We started on a little spurt to begin the second half and never looked back. We played well all night defensively and finally started knocking some shots down later on in the game.”

Quality minutes from Lanie King, Jordana Pope and Cain helped the cause, the coach said.

“We seem to be working together well right now,” Tanner said. “However, we have to understand that we have to be like this for the rest of the season and most importantly, we have to be confident. That is the biggest thing for us right now is believing that we can do it and go out there and execute.”

Pope contributed four points Monday night while Heather Tyler and Beth Anne Mahaffey added two each.
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Friday’s game against Westminster went down to the wire with the Lady Cougars taking a 54-53 win on the road. Tyler connected on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Piedmont the victory.

“I am hoping that we will be able to look back on this game as when we turn the corner,” Tanner said. “The girls played with intensity and played hard the entire night.”

Trailing by eight points with two minutes to go, the Lady Cougars went on a furious comeback to get within two with just 3.8 seconds left. Piedmont then ran an inbounds play from under its own basket and Tyler stepped out and knocked down the game-winner.
“These girls had no quit in them and they overcame some adversity to pull it out,” Tanner said.

Burnham finished with 21 points while Maletz added 14. Tyler finished with 11 points while King added six and Kacy Swart had two.
The Lady Cougars will host Covenant in a region game Friday at 6 p.m. before hosting John Milledge Saturday at 2:30 p.m.