COUGARS SLIDE PAST WARRIORS IN BIG RIVALRY CLASH

By Matt Lorenzo

The Academy Cougars got a huge road victory against their rival St. Paul Warriors in the IIAAG Girls High School Basketball League. The Cougars held on for the 40-38 victory in a packed Warriors gym on Saturday afternoon.

Academy head coach Jimmy Yi said the win was “very big – especially after coming from a loss last night to St. John’s. St. Paul played really well today, they were tough and played hard throughout the whole game.”

Academy was coming off a tough loss to the St. John’s Knights Friday night while the Warriors were unbeaten at 4-0 coming into the big game.

St. Paul was in total control in the first half, talking a 27-14 lead at the break as they held Academy to just two points in the 2nd quarter.

The second half was the Maria Jean Paulino show as the Academy junior guard single-handedly outscored the Warriors 15-11.

While Paulino was scoring buckets, the Cougar defense locked down the dangerous Warrior attack.

Paulino did work on both ends of the court and finished with a game-high 18 points. Cougar point guard Rapadas controlled the offense and chipped in 12 points.

“We made some keys stops and made some key buckets,” Coach Yi put it simply.

The result put a three-way tie for first place with the Cougars, Warriors and Knights all at 4-1.

St. John’s visits St. Paul on Tuesday at 6 pm.

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