Cougars’ win against Brown County marks most successful season

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The Trinity Lutheran girls’ basketball team set a new school record for wins in a season with their 50-47 victory against Brown County Saturday in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.

The win gives the Cougars a record of 19-5. The 2013-14 team held the former mark of 18-5.

Trinity Coach Mike Lang said he is proud of the team for breaking the record.

“Nineteen wins in a season is a great year,” he said. “There’s a lot of coaching staffs that will be happy with 19 wins in a season, and I know we’re one of them.

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“I guess we don’t focus on the wins where we’re at, but we focus on the quality of play at this time of year and how we did in every game.”

The Eagles held a 42-39 lead with five minutes remaining in the fourth period when the Cougars put together their game-winning rally with 11 straight points.

Four different Cougars scored during the string with Sydney Jaynes’ layup with 1:30 remaining putting her team on top 50-42.

Savannah Harweger hit a 3-pointer with 3:47 remaining to increase the Trinity lead to 46-42. She scored a layup on Trinity’s next possession, and then came up with a defensive rebound on Brown County’s next possession.

“We kind of switched some things up when we got down three,” Lang said. “We were able to execute. Savannah hit a big 3-pointer. That was a huge 3-pointer to put us up four. She really struggled in the first half, and she kind of slushed some of the mistakes she made and she carries us there in the last period.

“We’ve got to do a better job of recognizing our situations, and with a 7 or 9-point lead not taking shots and not making them come out and foul us and that’s what they were trying to do and we kind of played right into their hands.”

Abby Hackman sparked the Cougars to a 13-12 lead at the end of the first period. She opened the scoring with a 3-point basket, then had a layup in the middle of the period, and another layup in the closing seconds of the period to put her team ahead.

Hackman scored the first two baskets of the second period to boost Trinity’s lead to 17-12 before the Eagles tied the score at 17 with 5:30 remaining until halftime.

Maddie Bell’s 3-pointer put Trinity on top 25-19 with 1:22 on the clock, and Hackman’s seventh basket of the half helped the Cougars to a 27-23 lead at the break.

A 3-pointer by Piper Acton early in the third period gave Trinity a 30-23 lead , and she scored another field goal, and Hackman had two baskets in the period to help the Cougars lead 37-35 going into the fourth period.

Hackman topped the Cougars with 18 points and nine rebounds. Acton, Harweger and Jaynes added nine points each.

Anna Fleetwood topped the Eagles (10-11) with 19 points, including four 3-pointers.

The Cougars had 25 turnovers and Lang said his team needs to cut that number in half in the sectional.

“We were trying to get the ball in the middle, and when you get the ball in the middle good things are going to happen,” he said. “We wouldn’t get the ball in the middle. I went back and looked at what they did defensively. It’s not what they did to stop us. We stopped ourselves most of the game.

“It’s a victory on the scoreboard. We knew Brown County would play hard, they’re scrappy, and they’re strong. That’s what you’re going to get when you see most 3A, 4A schools. I’m glad we came out of here with a victory and finished the season on a high note.”

The Cougars (19-5) will face the winner of Tuesday’s Medora-Edinburgh game Friday night in the West Washington Sectional.

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