Indiana commit Juliana LaMendola, Waverly Hassman lead Coppell past Lewisville
COPPELL, Texas — The Coppell Cowgirls continued their district roll with a 56-42 win over the Lewisville Lady Farmers on Tuesday night, thanks in large part to the play of Indiana Hoosiers commit Jules LaMendola.
The 6-foot-1 senior guard scored 23 points in the district win, including 15 during the second half alone.
Macey Mercer started off the scoring for Coppell just seconds into the game with a 3-pointer before LaMendola drained a follow-up bucket to make it 5-0.
Lewisville struggled to get anything going early on and only managed to score one point during the opening minutes of the contest. Then as time expired in the first quarter, Lady Farmer senior Mya Dotson nailed a 3-pointer from half court to make the score 15-4 after one quarter of play.
Though the Cowgirls had dominated the first quarter, Lewisville took control during the second. Just 2 minutes in, Aaliyah Scott connected on a corner-3 to spark a 12-point run that resulted in a 20-19 Lady Farmer lead.
However before the half ran out, LaMendola and Waverly Hassman combined to retake the lead for Coppell with a score of 24-20 heading into the break.
Hassman played a major part for the Cowgirls, scoring 17 points in the winning effort.
Both teams continued to play fairly even with each other to open the second half. After 4 minutes of play in the half, Coppell’s lead was 33-26.
Then the Cowgirls found their spark.
Without touching the ball, LaMendola was fouled twice and then drove hard into the lane and sank a bucket while getting fouled again, then capitalized at the free throw line to complete the three-point play and ignite the fire.
Hassman scored six third-quarter points as well to give Coppell a double-digit lead. The score going into the final frame was 41-28.
The Cowgirls started spreading the ball around during the fourth quarter as five different players scored in the final 8 minutes. Though Lewisville scored 14 points in the quarter, Coppell was able to hold its lead and cruise to a 56-42 win.
The victory moves the Cowgirls to 30-2 (9-1) on the year, as they stay on a five-game winning streak going into their next match against Flower Mound (24-5, 7-3) at 6:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, in Flower Mound.
The Lady Farmers dropped to 13-14 overall (3-7) with the loss and will try to rebound against Plano East (15-9, 6-4) at 7 p.m. Friday night in Plano.
Check out SBLive's exclusive photo gallery from the game:
PHOTO GALLERY — COPPELL 56, LEWISVILLE 42
All photos by Brian McLean
