Rebelettes cannot be stopped on the hardwood

The Leake Academy girls have had their fair share of difficulty with Simpson County Academy the last few years.

But the Rebelettes made sure that wasn’t an issue on Friday night.

The Rebelettes dominated the first half and cruised to a 53-30 win over the Lady Cougars to run their win streak to 23 straight games this season.

In the boys game, the Rebels took the Cougars to the wire but dropped a 42-41 decision as a last-second shot was blocked.

The Leake girls improved to 23-0 and 4-0 in District 2-5A play and remain as the only unbeaten team in the MAIS.

The Leake boys fall to 14-6 on the season and 2-2 in district play.

Leake has a full week of action coming off the Christmas break. They will travel to Park Place on Tuesday and then host Winston on Thursday in a non-district contest. They will finish the week by hosting Lamar in a district contest.

Leake girls 53, Simpson 30

The Rebelettes used a big first half and cruised to a 23-point win over the Lady Cougars on Friday.

Leake was dominant in the first half as they outscored Simpson 20-11 in the first and 20-5 in the second to lead 40-16 at the half.

“The first half may have been our best half all season,” Leake coach Amanda Hatch said. “I loved our intensity from the very start of the game. Our offense was really smooth, and our defense executed extremely well. Coach (Linda) Dear does a great job, and Simpson is a tough play to place, so a big win down there is a huge accomplishment for our team.”

Leake put it in cruise control in the second half and led by as many as 31 points. The Rebelettes outscored the Lady Cougars 9-8 in the third while Simpson took the fourth period 6-4 for the final margin. Simpson fell to 15-3 on the season.

Jenna Allen led Leake with 15 points and six rebounds while Sarah Princ had 12 points, three rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Caroline Cheatham had eight points and three rebounds while Marleigh Myers had four points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Simpson boys 42, Leake 41

The Rebels weren’t able to hold onto an early lead as the homestanding Cougars escaped with a one-point win on Friday night.

Leake started hot as they led 16-10 at the end of the first period. But Simpson fought back and outscored the Rebels 15-8 in the second period to lead 25-24 at the half.  In another tight period, Simpson outscored Leake 11-9 in the third and led 36-33 going to the fourth. The Rebels got back-to-back 3-pointers from Samuel Prince to take a 41-40 lead late in the fourth period before a late basket by Simpson gave the Cougars the lead for good. Leake got a late steal but a block by Simpson preserved the win for the Cougars.

“This was a very competitive game and that’s what we except when these two teams get together,” Leake coach Jason Morgan said. “It was a great round one. We are going to see each other maybe three or four times this season. And each game will probably be a tight one. It is a war every year, but these games are a lot of fun.”

Prince led Leake with a game-high 26 points with seven steals and three steals.