Cougars beat St. Marys in WBL clash

Van Wert girls’ basketball news

The Van Wert Lady Cougars used a tenacious defense to beat St. Marys 45-27 in a Western Buckeye League contest played Thursday in the Cougar’s Den.

The Lady Cougars led 11-4 at the end of a quarter of play but St. Marys cut the lead to three points, 13-10, by outscoring Van Wert 6-2 in the second quarter. The Cougars came out fast in the third stanza, outscoring the Lady Roughriders 18-2 to lead by 19 points, 31-12, with only eight minutes remaining in the game.

St. Marys rallied in the final quarter, outscoring the Cougars 15-14, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Van Wert’s big lead.

The Cougars were led by Erin Morrow’s 11 points, including 9 of 10 from the free throw line, while Alexis Dowdy and Emilie Moonshower each scored 8 points for Van Wert. The Lady Riders were led by Lee Ann Bertke, who scored a game-high 12 points.

With the win, the Cougars improve to 10-12 overall on the year and are 3-6 in the WBL. St. Marys is 3-19 overall and 2-7 in league play.

Van Wert also won the junior varsity game, 34-25 over the Lady Roughrider JVs. Riley Jones led the Cougar JVs with 13 points, while Phoebe Eutsler added 11 points for Van Wert. St. Marys’ Lindi Cisco was the game’s top scorer with 18 points.