Lady Jets fall in 38-36 thriller

Feb. 2—The Cumberland County Lady Jets, playing one of their best basketball games of the season Tuesday night, gave Livingston Academy everything it could ask for before coming out on the short end of a thrilling 38-36 decision in Livingston.

Cumberland County matched LA basket for basket through the first three quarters before coming up just short in the final eight minutes.

"We led throughout the first half and they tied it in the third quarter," said Cumberland County coach Kim Cram-Torres. "Livingston did a good job of playing at their pace and they limited our possessions pretty well. I thought we did enough defensively to win, we held them to 38 points. Our biggest thing was we didn't get into the right scoring spots."

The loss drops the Lady Jets to 18-6 on the year and 6-3 in district play. Livingston Academy improves to 22-3 with the win and 9-0 in league play.

Livingston Academy took the early lead in the low-scoring game, holding a 5-3 advantage after the first period. Cumberland County came back to take a 17-12 lead into the locker room at halftime. The game was tied at 21 heading into the final period.

Emery Baragona led the Lady Jets with 14 points on the night. Abby Houston had 12 and Jalynn Baldwin scored six. Jorja Anderson chipped in with three points and Aliyah Hawkins scored one.

Ellie Butler led Livingston Academy with 15 points.

"I think both teams came out really nervous. Neither team knew who wanted to be the aggressor, and that's why it was such a low-scoring half," Cram-Torres said. "We had a couple of shots to take the lead and go up, they were really great looks but they just didn't go in."

The coach said she didn't really want to change anything in the second half because they felt like they were doing a pretty good job defensively. They wanted to make sure, Cram-Torres said, that Livingston's Ellie Butler didn't come out on fire in the second half.

"Our biggest concern was we didn't want Butler to come out and have a big third quarter," Cram-Torres said. "She has been coming out and having huge third quarters. I thought we did a pretty good job of limiting her."

Offensively, the Lady Jets had two players in double figures.

"I thought we were more aggressive this time than we were last time we played them, and that's been something we've been preaching about and talking about," Cram-Torres said. "Livingston's matchup zone is big and long, and that makes it difficult because they really close up space. Livingston defended us well, but I thought we left a lot of open shots that we did fight to get, I think we left those on the table."

Cumberland County will travel to Upperman on Feb. 3 for a key district game. The Lady Jets (6-3) are fighting with UHS (7-2) and White County (6-3) for second place. All three still have to play each other.

"I think it is now a fight for the second- and third-place spots in the district," Cram-Torres said. "That's what our focus is going to be. We need to make sure this loss to Livingston is not something that looms over us. We have to turn the page pretty fast because Friday night is going to be a tough game."