Cougars take down Warriors in girls hoops

The Academy Cougars slipped past the St. Paul Warriors, 33-27, Saturday afternoon in their ISA/IIAAG Girls Basketball League matchup at the Warriors home court. The Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start off the first quarter. The Warriors regrouped behind their defense and senior guard Sazzy Quintanilla went to work, finding her teammates to close the half down by one at 14-13 in Academy’s favor. In the third quarter, both teams came out hungry. But it was the Cougars’ Gabby Hahn who struck first off a dime from Madeleine Ada. Quintanilla and fellow senior Kimora Charfauros went to work, finding lanes in the Cougar defense to take the lead at 22-20. However, Ada banked one from half court with three ticks on the clock to infuse energy into her team and close the quarter at 23-22. The Cougars tightened up their defense in the fourth, limiting the Warriors to only five points. On the offensive end, they found different Cougars to take home the 33-27 victory. Hahn and Ada led their team with 10 points apiece. Quintanilla and Charfauros scored 19 of their team’s 27 points—10 and 9, respectively, in the loss. With the win, the Cougars improve to 2-0, while Warriors drop to 1-1.