The Granger Lady Lions defeated the Bartlett Bulldogs 35-32 Tuesday night in Granger. Tuesday night’s victory over the Bulldogs was the Lady Lions first district win of the season, and they did it with effective offense and aggressive defense.
Lady Lions shooting guard, Destiny Cotton, set the tone of the game for her team by knocking down a three-pointer 13 seconds into the game.
Shortly after, Cotten made a huge defensive play by block leading to a fast break for Granger and a foul by Bartlett, which allowed the Lady Lions to put more points on the board.
Lady Lions guard Marissa Hall seemed to have been inspired by Cotten’s defensive play as she was able to secure a steal, which lead to an easy layup for the Lady Lions. The steal and the block coupled with Cotten’s three-pointer had the Lady Lions sitting with a 6-2 lead early in the first quarter, but the Bulldogs were not going down without a fight.
After surviving the early attack from the Lady Lions, the Bulldogs’ offense started to come alive and the two teams traded blows until the Bulldogs went on a run of their own.
The Bulldogs’ run helped them build a 28-20 lead over the Lady Lions, but like head coach Kendall Cotten said, his team is going to find a way.
The Lady Lions did find a way and it came in the form of a steal that lead to a fast break and more points on the offensive end. Shortly after, the Lady Lions found some more three point luck when shooting gurad Sofia Bernal knocked a three-pointer to cut the Bulldogs lead to 29-24. The Lady Lions would continue on to score four more points making it a one point game of 29-28 with two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Bernal would make another big splash shortly after a Montana Moore steal cutting the Buldogs lead to one by knocking down another three-pointer to give the Lady Lions their first lead since the first quarter.
The Lady Lions would ride that momentum until the final buzzer when they were declared the winner.
The Lady Lions fought hard for their first district win and will look to keep and build on that momentum Friday, Jan. 13, when they welcome the Holland Horents to their home court.
