MONTICELLO — Even though the Lawrence County Lady Cougarssuffered a 65-49 loss to the Wingfield Lady Falcons Friday night,there were plenty signs of improvement for first-year head coachJennie Vance’s ballclub. The Lady Cougars had scored only sevenpoints in their first meeting with Wingfield.

In the varsity boys game, the Lawrence County Cougars gotanother career night from senior David Clark who roasted Wingfieldfor 43 points in a 66-45 basting of the Falcons.

The Lady Cougars fall to 4-17 overall, and 2-6in the division. The Lady Falcons improve to 17-6 on the seasonwith a perfect 9-0 division worksheet. The Lawrence County boysraised their record to 19-3 overall and 6-2 in division. TheFalcons drop to 7-14 and 2-7.

Lawrence County hosts Brookhaven for a Division 6-4A testTuesday, beginning at 4:45 p.m. with a JV boys game. The varsitytwinbill tips off at 6 with the girls, followed by the boys around7:30.

Wingfield 68, Lawrence County 49

“I am proud of the way we played tonight,” said Vance whoseballclub had dropped a 74-7 decision at Wingfield on Jan. 7. “Wekept our turnovers and our defense got us back in the game.”

The Lady Falcons took charge in the first quarter. Wingfield,coached by Bobby Gates, opened the game with a 12-0 run off of 5LCHS turnovers. Dominique Sutton tossed in 8 points as theJackson-based flyers led 20-5 at the end of the period. Shefinished the game with 12 points.

The Lady Cougars, who trailed by as many as 17 points, began tochip away at their deficit. LCHS held Wingfield scoreless duringthe final 3:30 of the first half. Ronesha Garner, Jasmine Courtney,Cortoya Barnes and Erical Bryant netted baskets as Vance’s ladiestrailed 34-19 at the intermission.

“Our shooting is improving,” added Vance. “We just need to playtogether for 32 minutes.”

Bryant sacked a short jumper in the paint to bring LCHS towithin 13 points, 34-21, to start the second half. Wingfield wouldclose the third with a 17-9 run, leading 51-30 entering the laststanza.

“They (Lawrence Co.) played well tonight,” said Gates.

Garner led all scorers with 22 points followed by Bryant with 8,and Barnes and Courtney with 7 points each.

The Lady Falcons were led by Jade Chatman, a transfer fromMurrah, with 16 points. Lorean Shoulders pumped in 11 while ShayneWilson added 10.

Lawrence County 66, Wingfield 45

The Falcons (sixth in the division) came to Monticello with amission of climbing the division ladder. With a starting line-upthat included 4 sophomores and a freshman, Wingfield appeared to beupset minded, taking a 12-11 lead into the second quarter with abalanced score sheet.

That is when the 6-foot-6, soft-spoken Clark erupted fordouble-digit scoring in the final 3 quarters of the game. Hisinside/outside game proved to be too much for the Falcons tohandle. A pair of treys gave Clark 12 points in the period as theCougars fostered a 31-25 halftime lead.

“David shot the ball well tonight,” said LCHS head coach BobbyLee.

The Cougars, who were minus senior starters Justin Lewis andJustin Middlebrook due to illness, got plenty of support. Pointguard Ray Collins, along with Dominique West and Victor Longino,combined for 17 assists. Many of those were to Clark, who used avariety of feathery, long-range bank shots and slam dunks to authorhis third 40-plus effort of the year.

Collins had 7 assists and 6 rebounds for the Cougars. Westdished out 6 assists and 2 steals. Longino had 5 rebounds and 4assists. Clark also had 12 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists, 2 blockedshots and drew 2 charges. Craig Tyler pumped into 10 points.

“This was one of our best efforts this year,” added Lee whoseteam led 51-35 heading into the final frame. “We shot the ballwell.”

The Falcons, coached by Herman Sanders, got a team-high 18points from sophomore Richard Harper. Wingfield tried to makeseveral runs at LCHS but the veteran Cougars proved to be too muchto handle for the youthful visitors from Jackson.

“We are a very young team,” said Sanders. “Clark was unstoppabletonight. He is a good player.”