Lady Cougars rally to defeat Elida

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

After outscoring Van Wert 18-5 in the third quarter, the Elida Lady Bulldogs probably thought their 12-point lead would stand up in the final stanza. It didn’t.

The Lady Cougs came roaring back with a 20-4 fourth-quarter run to leave the ‘Dogs in the dust and gain a 59-55 win the Western Buckeye League contest. The victory was the first for Van Wert in WBL play.

The Cougars are now 6-7 overall and 1-3 in the league, while Elida falls to 6-7 overall and 2-2 in the WBL.

Van Wert’s Erin Morrow led all scorers with 21 points — including 11 in the crucial fourth quarter — while Alexis Dowdy added 16 points for the Lady Cougars. O’sha Owens was Elida’s top scorer with 15 points, while Ashley Lowry added 12 points and Kylie Downton and Sabrina Kline both scored 10 for the Lady Bulldogs.

Van Wert was 20 of 52 from field goal range (38.5 percent) and was 10 of 19 from the free-throw line (52.6 percent). The Bulldogs hit 23 of 44 field goal attempts (52.3 percent) and were 8 of 10 (80 percent) from the charity stripe.

The difference for the Cougars was three-point shooting, with Van Wert making seven treys to just one for Elida. Morrow had the most three-pointers, with three, while Emilie Moonshower added two for the Cougars.

Van Wert had 27 rebounds to 24 for the Bulldogs, while turnovers proved crucial in the game. Although the Cougars had only two fewer miscues, 9-11, four of Elida’s turnovers came in the pivotal fourth quarter.

The Van Wert junior varsity team won its second game of the season, 37-34, against the Bulldog JVs. Emily Bair and Riley Jones each scored 11 points for the Cougars, while Skylar Hurst had 12 points for the Elida JVs.

Van Wert’s next game is at Paulding on Tuesday, January 15, starting at 6 p.m. for the JV game.