Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

WOLVERETTES 62

LADY LEOPARDS 40 It was a tale of two halves, with Prescott's Wolverettes winning both, but looking markedly different in each one.

The Wolverettes won the first half against De Queen 26-23, and blew the Lady Leopards away in the second half 40-17, for a final score of 62-40.

Prescott took the tip, scoring on an Angela Cossey six-footer to start the game between these two long-time rivals.

The game quickly became one of chess for the coaches, as the Lady Leopards worked to control the pace, slowing it down to almost nothing in an attempt to disrupt Prescott's offensive timing.

Prescott played a solid half-court press, keeping the Lady Leopards off balance throughout the contest.

Period one, though, was back and forth as the teams felt one another out, probing for weak spots and openings in the defense.

The inaugural eight minutes ended with Prescott leading 17-16.

The Wolverettes changed the pace repeatedly in the second quarter, first fast, then slow, with little scoring being done by either side.

Both offenses showed remarkable patience for the level of play, while both defenses fought to keep the opposition from scoring.

Halftime arrived with the Wolverettes up by three with the score 26-23.

The Lady Leopards got the ball to start the second half, and began at a snail's pace. The two teams swapped leads for a while, before Prescott got tired and decided to light up the scoreboard.

With 4:35 showing, Prescott led 35-29. De Queen managed to cut the lead to 35-33 with 2:36 left, but this only served to wake the dormant Wolverette offense.

From then on, it was all Prescott ball as the Wolverettes went on a 13-0 run for the rest of the quarter.

When the Wolverettes pushed their lead to 44-33 with 1:30 left, they could smell the victory.

For some reason, the Lady Leopards quit trying to take the ball inside and fired away from beyond the perimeter missing consistently.

Cossey opened the final eight minutes by shooting lights out basketball.

Defensively, the Wolverettes stalked the Lady Leopards, like a lioness hunting antelope in the wilds of Africa.

The final eight minutes saw Prescott play De Queen like Bobby Fisher played Boris Spasky for the World's Chess Championship.

When the Wolverettes pushed their lead to 22, with the score 58-36, Coach Bill Cossey sent in the subs and rested the starters.

Stacy Stockton was Prescott's leading scorer, scorching the nets for 20. Cossey followed with 16, with Traci Graham picking up the pace with 14.

McClelland led De Queen with 11.

Both teams were four of five from the line.

The Wolves and Wolverettes will next see action when they travel to Nashville Friday night to tangle with the pumpkinheads. Tipoff will be at 5:30 p.m.