There were clear early signs how Tuesday night’s Covington-Brighton girls’ game in Covington was going to go.
Covington forced a five-second call the first time Brighton tried to inbound the ball and Lady Charger senior CorTayza Flowers scored eight points in the first quarter. By the time the first period ended Covington was leading 17-3 and had forced 13 Brighton turnovers, largely because of a full-court press.
Flowers ended up scoring a game-high 26 points and Covington (15-8 overall, 4-0 District 14-AAA) remained perfect in district play with an easy 55-20 win.
Brighton (2-12, 0-4) looked better in the second half as Gus Johnson hit three 3-pointers and Da’Lyzah Maclin hit a 3, but first-year Brighton head coach Keagan Bran admitted his young team is still a work in progress.
“We played hard in the beginning of the season and I think we’re still playing hard, but now we’re getting to the teams we’re familiar with so there’s a little bit of lingering confidence issues,” Bran said. “Defensively we look pretty good right now, but offensively we’re still searching for our confidence.”
Brighton owns wins over Trezevant and Liberty Tech, but has largely struggled in district play. A week ago Brighton led Ripley at the half before losing.
Bran said a two-week COVID break during Christmas has slowed the young team’s progress.
“We’re slowly but surely losing some of our bad habits,” he said. “Once we get the ball to the front court we’re not turning the ball over much.”
Alana White added 17 points for Covington. Johnson led Brighton with nine.
Brighton will get a chance to pick up its first district win of the season Friday against Haywood. Covington hosts Hutchison Friday before returning to district play Tuesday at home vs. Ripley.
