Malvern’s Cooper sparks Lady Cubs in home duel match-up hosting Lakeside
Jr. Lady Rams’ Rogers records 33 pt. performance
MALVERN — In the featured nightcap contest last Thursday at the Leopard Center, the hometown Malvern Lady Cubs’ dandy point guard Chasney Cooper led her team in scoring in double-figures despite a tough loss to the Lakeside Jr. Lady Rams 44-24—for a competitive ninth grade girls dual on the hardwood.
Cooper was the top-performer the Lady Cubs sparking with 10 points, but the star of the night was Lakeside’s Ameila Rogers exploding for a impressive 33 points as the game’s high scorer. Rogers dropped 27 points of her 33 points in the first half with two trifectas from behind the arc to showcase an overall productive performance in junior high girls action.
Malvern Lady Cub ninth grade head basketball coach Kristen Weigand thought her lady hoopsters competed well and hard against a good Lakeside group. Weigand knows there are a few seventh and eighth graders performing with her freshmen, but she is observing growth from what her team learns during practice to prepare for each match-up.
“I’m seeing things we’ve worked on in practice the girls are doing in the games. They’ve been playing really hard and they are learning from each game to prepare for the next game,” Weigand said.
Along with productive play, Weigand added her junior girls have made im
provements to keep progressing as the season continues.
In the first quarter, the Lady Cubs made the contest interesting by their post players stepping up with production for productive inside play. Jaylin Finley sank the game’s first bucket in the paint area for a Malvern 2-0 lead at the 5:32 mark. Lakeside rallied back with consecutive buckets to lead 4-2 down to the 3:01 mark. Coo
per dished out a key assist to Finely for a big bucket on the block that tied the contest at 4-4 at the 2:47 mark. Then Cooper utilized her speed and coasted by the Lakeside defense with a running floater to give Malvern back the lead 6-4 at the 2:20 mark. But Lakeside went on a run and regained momentum by leading Malvern 13-6 with under a minute remaining in the first period. Finley was fouled behind the arc and made all three free-throws to stop Lakeside’s run—while Malvern trailed 13-9 with a four-point deficit. In the closing seconds, Lakeside increased their margin with a bucket from the field to end the first period leading Malvern, 16-9.
In the second quarter, Lakeside outscored Malvern 15-5. Rogers scored all of Lakeside’s points in the second with two huge trifectas from behind the arc for a 15-point scoring period. Malvern’s Jaylin Jones and Kalenia Young provided the scoring in the second period. But at the break, Lakeside led Malvern, 30-14.
In the third period, the Jr. Lady Rams finished the quarter leading Malvern, 38-16. In the final quarter of the night, Malvern outplayed Lakeside led by Cooper leading the surge with six points and went 2-for-2 at the foul line for the scoring department. Alexis Hawkins also contributed to Malvern scoring with a bucket against Lakeside. But the Jr. Lady Rams went on to the 20-point win behind Rogers’ stellar performance of the night.
For the game, Lady Cubs’ Finley posted four points, Young finished with three points, Hawkins and Jaylin Jones each contributed two points apiece.
The Lady Cubs will regroup from this defeat and look to return to more home action during the Christmas holiday break at the Leopard Center.