Lady Dawgs look to defend top spot in 12-6A tonight

By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press

The Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs’ basketball team earned a huge road win over the Midway Pantherettes and the Belton Lady Tigers suffered their first district loss of the season to create a logjam atop the District 12-6A standings with Cove and Belton leading the way at 4-1.
The Lady Dawgs dropped the district opener to Belton, 38-36, before reeling off four-consecutive wins to force a tie in the top spot.
Junior Madisen “MJ” Honea scored 22 points to lead the Lady Dawgs past the Pantherettes last Friday while the Killeen Lady Kangaroos edged out the Lady Tigers 38-36 on Tuesday to create the two-way tie for first place while Cove was idle.
In Waco, the Lady Dawgs fought off a fourth-quarter rally to secure the five-point win.
A 10-0 first-quarter run by the Lady Dawgs helped them build a 24-20 lead at the halftime break. 
Cove caught fire in the third quarter with four three-pointers that ballooned their lead to 10-42, 32.
A Pantherettes’ run cut the Cove lead to two possessions but free throws by junior Kaysha McCloud iced the contest.
Honea added four assists to her game-high 22 points while junior Leah Powell added eight points and seven rebounds and senior Jayda Carter had seven points and six steals.
The Lady Dawgs’ JV lost a close one 45-43. Keana Garrett had 14 points and 7 rebounds while Jaaliyah Segrest added 12 points and 5 steals.
The Cove freshman team picked up a 47-33 win with Jordyn McGhee leading with 17 points, followed by Kyra Gaston (15) and Jade Chapman (6).
The current girls’ District 12-6A standings are as follows: Belton (4-1), Copperas Cove (4-1), Waco Midway (3-2), Ellison (3-3), Killeen (3-3), Temple (2-3), Waco (1-4) and Shoemaker (0-5).
The Cove boys fell to 1-2 in district play with a 54-40 loss to no. 14-ranked Waco Midway. The loss knocks them to sixth-place behind No. 14 Midway (3-0), No. 16 Ellison (3-1), no. 17 Shoemaker (3-1), Killeen (2-2) and Belton (1-2). Closing out the standings are Waco (1-2), Harker Heights (1-3) and Temple (1-3).
Tonight, the Lady Dawgs looks to maintain that first-place spot with a home contest against the Harker Heights Lady Knights, who currently sit a half-game back of the lead at 4-2. Belton will look to keep pace as well with a road game at Killeen Ellison (3-3) tonight. 
The Cove boys will look to even their district record against Heights in the second game of the varsity double-header tonight at Bulldawg Gymnasium.