Ladies fall to Cooper at home

Cooper outscored Carroll 15-3 in the second quarter, en route to a 65-41 victory Tuesday, Jan. 15.

Kristin Beck/The News-Democrat

Freshman Miranda Groseclose scored 16 points in the Lady Panthers’ loss to Cooper Tuesday, Jan. 15.

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After the game, head coach Paul Stone said he wanted to see better focus out of his young team.

“We played great in stretches and then we have a mental lapse. We have a mental breakdown,” he said. “We don’t block out one possession or we don’t pass fake or we don’t look in the right spot or we don’t run the play properly. We told them you’ve got to stay focused the whole time. You’ve got to have effort and execute the plays, but you also have to stay focused on what your job is, and we have too many mental breakdowns.”

The Lady Panthers stumbled out the gate, turning the ball over five times in their first six possessions. The girls finally got on the board with a free throw by Miranda Groseclose almost three minutes into the game and scored their first field goal off a 3-pointer by Makena Kindoll midway through, 7-4.

Kindoll tied the game at 13 apiece with another 3-pointer with 45 seconds left, but Cooper answered with a free throw by Andrea Thompson and a coast-to-coast transition layup by Paige Ross to lead 16-13 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Jaguars’ momentum continued early in the second quarter, driving to the basket and getting layups off outlet passes, things Stone wants to see more of from his team.

“We’ve got to get to the point where we all get rebounds and we go,” he said.

The Lady Jaguars did a good job of getting a defensive rebound and immediately going on the offensive, not allowing the Lady Panthers to get back on defense. Stone said there was only one time his team caught Cooper off guard. In the second half, Lauren Moore got a defensive rebound and passed the ball ahead of the Cooper defense to Kindoll for a layup.

Starting guard Kayla Williamson was out sick, so sixth man Miranda Groseclose started in her absence. The freshman forward posted 16 points, including 6-8 from the foul line. “Miranda does a really good job of driving to the basket and getting fouls and that’s something we all need to do is get fouls,” Stone said.

Kindoll led the team with 18 points. Also scoring was Moore, four points; Sadie Smith, two points; and Kirsten Arvin, one point.