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COSBY – Grainger and Cosby battled in a close contest in the first half before the Lady Grizzlies pulled away with a 16-3 run in the third period to down the Lady Eagles 53-31 Friday night on The Hill.

The Lady Eagles were red-hot from three-point range to begin the game as all of their field goals in the first half came from downtown. Shylee Shelton hit Cosby’s first two-pointer of the game at the 5:09 mark of the third period to pull the home team to within a point at 25-24 but it was all Grainger from there as Marly Tanner’s shot started the 16-3 scoring barrage.

“Cosby has some great perimeter shooters and I thought we might have a hard time keeping some of them in front of us,” Grainger head coach Rusty Bishop said of the Lady Eagles’ field goal percentage from deep in the first half. “Shelton and Kinley Coggins are both special players outside and our zone allowed us to stay a little more extended on them. No matter what defense you run against them, Cosby is going to make shots. We did a better job of finding them in the second half. This bunch is finally starting to buy in on the defensive end.”

One of the things that allowed Grainger to pull away after halftime was their ability to get to the offensive boards and that was disappointing according to Cosby head coach Cody Lowe. “Grainger did a better job against us in the second half as their match-up zone was really good. Giving up offensive rebounds was the biggest thing for us in the second half. They did a great job of crashing the boards and were more physical than we were and took it to us. They just had more effort than we did. It doesn’t take skill to rebound or skill to defend, you just have to play your tail off and put your rear end one someone to rebound. We didn’t do that in the second half and that’s what got us.”

Makayla Scott lead Grainger with 12 points with Maddie Hurst and Alyvia Sneed each adding 10 points. “I felt like we got a lot of good offensive looks in the first half and made a conscience effort in the second half to get the ball in the middle of their zone with Maddie and Makayla,” Bishop said. “If we got it in there, then the shots started to look a lot better. That paid dividends for us.” Shelton led Cosby with 17 points but Lowe said he is looking for additional scoring punch from his team. “Shylee played great as she led us in scoring and rebounding but it’s frustrating that others aren’t stepping up. We aren’t asking people to do anything they can’t do. We have to see better effort from some people.”

Grainger built an 11-6 lead to start the game but the highlight of the first half was when Coggins nailed a three-pointer from half-court at the buzzer. The three’s kept falling for Coby in the second period as the Lady Eagles took their first lead of the contest when Shelton hit a three to make the score 19-17. Tanner’s two late free throws tied the game at 19-19 at the break.

The game was back and forth in the third until Grainger’s big run allowed them to go up 41-27 going to the final period. The Lady Grizzles continued with their offensive output as they scored the first seven points of the final frame. Coggins answered with a three late but that would be the final Cosby field goal the rest of the way in the 53-31 Grainger victory.

Some of the biggest baskets of the game came from Sneed who started the season in a much different role than the one she had now for Grainger. “Sometimes some of the things she does don’t look great but she is getting better every day. She started as our manager and has now been in the starting lineup the last five or six ball games. Alyia can really score for us offensively and now that she has found a little confidence, the sky is the limit for her,” Bishop said.

Cosby returns to action on Tuesday when they host Washburn and Grainger hosts Claiborne.