By T. Scott Boatright
CHOUDRANT — Choudrant’s girls hoopsters ran out of steam after a third-quarter surge Monday night as the Lady Aggies fell 45-39 to Doyline at the CHS Gym.
The Lady Aggies started sluggishly, trailing 12-6 at the end of the first quarter and 21-12 at halftime as Choudrant failed to get its offensive game untracked.
But the Lady Aggies started hitting their shots in the third stanza, outcoring the Lady Panthers 17-9 in the period to cut Doyline’s lead to 30-29 heading into the fourth quarter.
Reese Brown’s jumper at the 4:15 mark of the third quarter cut Doyline’s lead to five points at 23-15, and by the 2:21 mark of the stanza the Lady Aggies only trailed by one after Heather Murphey connected on a pair of free throw attempts to make it 23-22 in favor of the Lady Panthers.
Choudrant managed to tie things up at 26-26 at the 1:47 mark of the third quarter when Kadence Nugent’s jumper bounced high off the rim before falling down through the nets but the Panthers countered with four straight points to go up 30-26 with 1:01 left in the period.
But the Lady Aggies finished the stanza strong to slice Doyline;s lead to 30-29 heading into the fourth quarter.
Choudrant kept things close through much of the final stanza, tying things up at 39-39 on a Murphey layup with 2:19 remaining.
But Doyline shut down the Lady Aggies from there, going on a 6-0 run to close out the game and move to 10-5 while Choudrant fell to 4-19.
Mattie Johnson led the Lady Aggies with 16 points while Nugent added 12 and Abby Frazier and Brown chipped in with four each for Choudrant.
“We’re young and still looking for a way to play a whole game,” said Lady Aggies coach Geoffrey Underwood. “We’re making progress as we gain experience, but we still have a long way to go, too. We’re just going to get back after it and keep trying to make it happen.”
Choudrant will next play at Castor on Friday.
