Lady Cougars lose to Shawnee girls

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The Van Wert Lady Cougars got behind early and never caught up, as Shawnee outscored them in all four quarters to take a 63-48 victory in a Western Buckeye League game played in the Cougars’ Den.

The Lady Indians doubled the score on Van Wert, 14-7, in the first quarter and led by 10 points, 32-22, at the half. The Lady Cougars trailed by 11 points, 44-33, at the three-quarter mark.

Shawnee had two big offensive weapons in the game, with Rachel Evans and DeAsia Smith both scoring 20 points in the game. Maryssa Herschler added 12 points for the Lady Indians.

Van Wert was led by a pair of 14-point performances from Erin Morrow and Meghan Moonshower. No other Cougar scored more than 6 points in the game.

A key stat in the game was the failure of Van Wert to get the ball inside, forcing the Cougars into shooting from the perimeter, where the team’s poor three-point shooting doomed Van Wert’s attempts to rally from early deficits.

The Lady Cougars shot reasonably well from the free-throw line, hitting 20 of 30 attempts from the line (66.7 percent). Shawnee was 15 of 29 from the charity stripe (51.7 percent).

Having prolific scorer Alexis Dowdy still not at 100 percent also didn’t help Van Wert, which badly needed the extra offense. Dowdy, who averaged in double figures last year but has suffered from injuries this year, was scoreless in the game.

With the loss, the Cougars fall to 2-8 on the year, and are 0-3 in the WBL. Shawnee is 4-7 overall and 1-2 in league play.