On Dec. 7, the Philadelphia Lady Tornadoes beat Newton County by 27 points.
Just 11 days later, the Lady Cougars cut that deficit to eight points.
Coach Cory Cleveland said the Lady Cougars played one of their best games of the season and took the visiting Lady Tornadoes deep into the fourth period before they pulled away with a 51-43 win on Tuesday night to improve to 8-3 on the season.
In the nightcap, the Tornadoes flexed their muscle and beat Newton County 73-32 to improve to 9-2 under former Newton County coach Willis Tullos.
The Lady Cougars fell to 2-9 on the season with the loss but Cleveland said he can see his young squad getting better with every game.
“Less than two weeks, they beat us by 27 points up there and tonight it was an eight-point game,” Cleveland said. “I don’t believe in moral victories but I think it shows that we are getting better. We are playing better and starting to defend better. We got the shots that we wanted tonight, they just didn’t fall. If we can get some of those shots to fall, I think we can be very competitive in the district.”
The Lady Cougars took the fight to the Lady Tornaodes early, leading 17-12 at the end of the first. But Philly roared back in the second, outscoring the Lady Cougars 15-5 to lead 27-22 at the half. Newton County cut that gap in the third as they outscored Philadelphia 14-12 in the third and trailed 41-34. The Lady Cougars pulled within two points in the fourth period but could never pull even as the Lady Tornadoes were able to hold the ball and run the clock.
Remini Nickey led Newton County with 11 points while Keasja Wansley added 10 points. Justina Hill added eight points.
Andrika Carter led Philadelphia with 18 points while Nia Luckett had 14 points.
Philadelphia boys 73,
Newton County 32
The Tornadoes led from the opening tip and outscored the Cougars in every period as they took a 41-point win on Tuesday night.
Philly led 12-2 at the end of the first and then outscored Newton County 24-7 in the second to lead 36-9 at the half. The Tornadoes, while playing the entire bench, continued to pull away in the second half as they outscored the Cougars 23-12 in the third and 14-11 in the fourth.
Josiah Cleveland led Newton County with nine points while Jared Thames had eight points and Jamaal Croft had six points.
