By Thomas Sellers Jr.
By the time the 32 minutes were up Friday night in the Brighton Gymnasium, it was evident both the Munford Lady Cougars and Brighton Lady Cardinals have made strides since November.
The Lady Cougars of Steve Poindexter were victorious 54-22 over Keegan Bran’s Lady Cardinals in the district/Tipton County showdown. With a floor full of improving players the standout wore the Munford black and red with the No. 40. Shea Gooden demonstrated her touch around the basket, hands to catch the ball and footwork to get position in the paint.
“I’ll be the first to tell you and she will too, she has a ways to go,” Poindexter acknowledged. “I don’t know anybody who has improved as much as she has in a two, three-month span. She takes coaching. She works hard and she has the right attitude.
“I think what’s different with her, she can look in the mirror and say ‘I have something to work on,’” he continued. “‘I do need them to help me. I do need to work hard.’ For a teenager, a lot of the time it is hard for them to have that awareness. I’m pleased with her progress but we all know she has a lot of work to do. But what she’s done up to this point, she’s definitely improving. And that’s what you want.”
The Lady Cougars as a team jumped out 8-0 behind a layup from Harlee Windsor and Brezia Cooper driving to the basket for a layup. Brighton ended the drought to make the tally 8-2.
Then Gooden regained control of the game for Munford with a basket down low drawing a foul. Another part of Gooden’s game improving is her foul shooting. She made the free-throw to make the score 11-2. Gooden scored 6 more points in the first quarter in a variety of way.
Her next field goal was a put-back bucket. Moments later Gooden made another shot at the rim and closed out with a basket in transition. Munford led 19-11 after 8 minutes of action.
Gooden started the second period with a layup to make the Lady Cougar lead double digits. Munford outscored the Lady Cardinals 15-3 in the second quarter.
The combo of Windsor and Gooden did the scoring for Munford in the third quarter. Both players scored 6 points to help the Lady Cougars enter the fourth quarter ahead 45-18.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Poindexter said. “I tell people all the time we’ve only had two games all year where we had all our available players dress out. We still have a girl in a boot who started our first game of the year.
“We’ve had our fair share of adversity,” he added. “I think you can definitely see these young players like our freshman out there not looking so much like a freshman anymore. You see that progression. We have some good kids out there and they’re putting in the work.”
The Lady Cardinals were able to run smoother offensive sets and apply better defensive pressure as the game progressed. But the size and experience of Cooper for Munford kept the competitive edge in favor of the Lady Cougars.
Brighton was held to 4 points in the final period. Meanwhile the Lady Cougars added 9 points to their final tally for the rivalry victory.
“We’re a young team,” Poindexter concluded. “We’re still learning how to win. Learning how to finish things. Our chemistry is still not there so there are a lot of things to improve on. But if you watched us from the beginning to now you definitely have to say there’s an improvement in our team. As a coach I am pleased with that.”
