Lady Hornets Edged By NFC

By Clint Cox

The Cottondale Lady Hornets opened up the 2009 –10 season by hosting the Lady Eagles of North Florida Christian School on Tuesday night. In a hard fought and close game the Lady Hornets suffered a 55-45 loss.

The Lady Eagles jumped out to an early 11 – 5 before Cottondale began to battle back. A 3 pointer by Khadejah Ward and a free throw by Syrinna Pope cut it to a 11-9 game. But NFC reeled off 6 straight points before Vakia Grimsley hit a bucket to close out the quarter with the Lady Eagles leading 17-11. NFC took a 21-11 lead early in the second quarter but the Lady Hornets then mounted a comeback. Grimsley hit a couple of buckets and KiKi Paul hit a 3 pointer to make it a 25-18 game. Paul then drained a 3 pointer at the buzzer to cut the Lady Eagle lead to 25-21 at the half.

The Lady Hornets came out hot in the third quarter, especially Paul who continued to knock down 3 pointers. With four minutes left in the third quarter a Paul 3 pointer made it 28-27 in favor of NFC. With just over two minutes to play in the quarter her third 3 pointer tied the game at 30-30. Ward then hit a 3 pointer to give Cottondale it’s first lead of the game and then another long range bomb from Paul gave the Lady Hornets a 36-32 lead. When the third quarter came to a close Cottondale held a 37-35 lead.

NFC started the fourth quarter with 6 unanswered points and reclaimed the lead. Grimsley kept the Lady Hornets close with 8 points in the final quarter. But NFC hit several key 3 pointers and free throws in the final three minutes of the game to pull out the 10 point victory.