The Apex Cougars lost against the Panther Creek Catamounts back in January, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. Apex suffered a rough 65-39 defeat at the hands of Panther Creek. While losing is never fun, Apex can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 264th, while Panther Creek is ranked 12th).
Defeat or not, Apex got some senior leadership from Isabella Pease and Destiny Richardson. Pease scored 14 points along with six rebounds and four steals, while Richardson. almost dropped a double-double on ten rebounds and nine assists. It was the first time this season that Richardson posted eight or more assists.
Even though they lost, Apex were working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Panther Creek only racked up eight assists.
It was another big night for Taylor Barner, who scored 21 points along with six steals for Panther Creek. Barner has been hot recently, having posted 21 or more points the last 11 times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Olivia Tucker, who scored 14 points along with eight rebounds.
Apex's loss was their fifth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 8-11. As for Panther Creek, the victory (which was their ninth in a row) raised their record to 15-4.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Apex will square off against Apex Friendship at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Apex Friendship focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Friday. As for Panther Creek, they will head out on the road to square off against Green Hope at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Panther Creek has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 666 points over their last ten contests.
