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In a doubleheader last Monday night at Perry Memorial Gymnasium, the Grace Christian Cougars girls lost to Sherwood Christian 39-30 in a back-and-forth first-half matchup, which saw Sherwood take a three-point lead at halftime 19-16. 

After trailing 31-22 entering the fourth quarter, an 8-0 scoring barrage led by No. 4 Ava Martin and No. 33 Chloe Brogdon cut the Eagles lead down to one, 31-30 late in the fourth quarter. 

The Cougars (4-6, 0-0) were led in scoring by Brogdon, who finished with 13 points, nine of which came in the first sixteen minutes of action. No. 11 Reagan Delanoy had six points all in the second half, and No. 4 Martin contributed with four points. 

GCA’s girls’ basketball coach, Kelsey Raley, emphasized the importance of her teams’ defensive play. 

“Tonight, our goal was to keep them under 40, and they scored 39 points,” Raley said. “So as a coach, that was well executed, especially with their last five points coming off free throws and intentionally stopping the clock.” 

It was an impressive showing after their first matchup against SCA that saw the Cougars lose by 22 points on Dec. 6. 

“We will see improvement throughout the rest of the season,” Raley said. “Our main objective was on defense, and it makes it easier when we make a clear focus and let our flow of getting stops on defense carry into easy offensive positions. When we played (Sherwood) the first time, we struggled to keep them to one position, making it difficult to get into our offensive system.” 

The GCA Cougars girls will travel to Baker County Wednesday at 6 p.m., a team they beat 51-30 on November 18th. They will then travel to North Florida Christian on December 19 and play at 6 p.m.