Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Bears and Lady Bears were at home friday night and their opponents were the high-powered Cougars and Lady Cougars from Grayson County High School. GCHS is a district rival for Butler County and entered the game as the favorites to win the 12th District.

First up was the matchup between the Lady Bears and the Lady Cougars. GCHS came into the game with a 13-3 record including a 3-0 mark in district play. The Lady Bears entered play Friday night with a 2-9 record and a 1-2 record in the 12th District.

Any dreams of a Lady Bears upset were dashed early on Friday night. Grayson County roared out to a 26-3 lead after the first period with the only BCHS field goal coming from Koshosha Turner early in the quarter. Kylee Gorby led the first half onslaught for Bradley Johnson’s Lady Cougars. Gorby poured in 21 points in the first half to give her team a commanding 49-14 lead at halftime. Madeline Drake had six in the first half to lead the Lady Bears who shot 20% from the field on 4 out of 20 shooting in the first half.

Coach Johnson used his starters sparingly in the second half, but the results were only slightly better for the Lady Bears. Poor shooting and tough GCHS defense limited the Lady Bear output to 17 second half points, and the Lady Cougars grabbed another district win by a final score of 75-31. Gorby led the scoring for Grayson with 26, Madeline Drake had 11 to lead Butler County. Grayson County improved to 14-3 overall and 4-0 in district play. BCHS dropped to 2-10 and 1-3 in the district.

BUTLER COUNTY SCORING (Unofficial)
Drake-11, Graham-6, Flener-4, Hall-2, Turner-2, West-2, White-2, Cardwell-1, Easley-1

Score by quarter
BCHS        3    11    6    11    31
GCHS        26    23    16    10    75

The nightcap featured the boys from both schools in a crucial district game. The Cougars owned a 13-3 (2-0) coming into Friday night. The Bears were 5-10 with a 3-1 district record with their only district loss coming against the Cougars in December.

The Bears hung tough with the Cougars in the early minutes of the contest behind four points from Jackson Washer and a Bear defense that bothered GCHS. However Grayson County was able to get points from six different players in the quarter to take the lead 18-7 at the end of the period. In the second quarter the Bears tightened up the defense and used six points from Lucas “Taco” Bratcher to stay close to the Cougars. GCHS struggled to distribute the ball in the face of the BCHS defense and outscored the Bears by only a basket at 14-12 in the period to take a 32-19 lead into halftime. Washer and Bratcher had six points each to lead the BCHS first half scoring. Ollie Roberts and Ryne Tinsley had six each to lead GCHS in the first half.

Grayson County used some minor adjustments and a very deep bench to put the game away in the third period. Behind strong quarters from Ollie Roberts and Trey Tinsley the Cougars won the third period 18-12 and the game was never again in doubt. Coach Johnston cleared his bench midway through the fourth quarter and the Cougars coasted in to a 63-51 win. The Cougars put 4 players in double figures led by Ethan Saltsman and Trey Tinsley with 12 points each. BCHS was led in scoring by Jackson Washer 14 points. The win drops BCHS to 3-2 in district play with both losses coming against Grayson County.

The Bears and Lady Bears will step out of the third region for their next games. They will travel to Russellville on Tuesday night for a doubleheader against Logan County High School. Tip off of the first game will be 6:00 with the second game following at approximately 7:30. Both games will be covered live on 1570 AM WLBQ and on Beechtreenews.com. Live streaming of BCHS basketball games can be accessed on Beechtreenews.com by clicking on the radio icon at the top of any page.

BUTLER COUNTY SCORING (Unofficial)
Washer-14, Woodcock-12, Flener-10, Bratcher-6, Jenkins-6, Thomas-3

Score by quarter
BCHS        7    12    12    20    51
GCHS        18    14    18    13    63

Story by Joe K. Morris, BTN

Photos by David "Hawkeye" Hocker, BTN