Escambia Academy’s Lady Cougars escaped South Choctaw Academy with a victory on Friday defeating the Lady Rebels 45-43.

The Lady Cougars (7-4, 1-0) controlled the first half of the game, but almost let victory slip away in the second half.

In the first quarter, it was all Lady Cougars as they pulled out to a comfortable 11-6 lead and they continued to hold their lead in the second quarter outscoring the Lady Rebels 16-12 to take the lead into halftime ahead 27-18.

Following halftime, the Lady Rebels began to claw back into the game by outscoring the Lady Cougars in the final two periods.

The Lady Rebels cut off two-points of the nine-point deficit they faced at halftime by outscoring the Lady Cougars 13-11 in the third quarter.

In the final quarter, the Lady Cougars had to fight off the Lady Rebels’ comeback efforts as they were outscored 13-7, but still hung on to win 45-43.

Lady Cougars head coach Heath Gibson said his team’s shooting needs to improve.

“We shot 16-of-29 from the free throw line, but 13-of-67 from the field,” he said. “We have to improve our shot selection to continue to be successful.”

Lady Cougar Amber Huskey led EA with a double-double recording 14 points and 15 rebounds. She also recorded five steals and a block.

Guards Lacie Flowers and Grayson Emmons added nine points each for the Lady Cougars with Flowers also recording seven steals, two rebounds and one assist. Emmons finished with five rebounds and one assist.

Carlie Broughton scored six points for EA to go with six rebounds, while Taylor Helton put up five points, 10 rebounds and five steals in the win.

Rachel Fuller rounded out the scoring for the Lady Cougars with two points, two steals, one rebound and one assist.