Munford's Brezia Cooper defends Brighton's Cassidy Johnson during action Tuesday night in Munford. Photo by Jeff Ireland
Anybody who was paying attention before Tuesday’s Brighton-Munford girls’ game in Munford knew it was not going to be competitive.
Brighton dressed out just six players because of injuries and COVID issues and the game went as expected.
Munford jumped out to a 24-3 lead, Brighton didn’t get a field goal until midway through the fourth quarter and the Lady Cougars cruised to a 56-12 District 13-AAA win.
“I just think, in games like this, you have to find something you’re going to work to improve on,” said Munford coach Steve Poindexter. “You have to just challenge yourself. I’m telling our kids we’re preparing to beat the best teams so you have to stay focused. We’ve got areas we really need to improve on and we were trying to do that tonight. It was nice to get some of the girls some time who don’t play a lot.”
Munford senior Maiya Reed, the third-leading scorer in the Shelby-Metro area at 16.3 points per game, scored 14 in the first half and led all scorers with 18. Shelby Kendrick added nine, Brezia Cooper scored eight and Ciara Spencer finished with seven.
Cassidy Johnson got Brighton’s first field goal and led her team with eight. Talea Taylor scored Brighton’s other four points.
The Lady Cardinals are 2-6 overall and 0-3 in district play. There’s no timetable for the return of several key players. Three of the girls who played Tuesday have never played varsity basketball before.
“It’s hard, it’s real hard,” said Brighton coach Stan Gatlin. “I’ve never been through something like this in my career, but I do appreciate the girls for working hard.”
Munford improved to 8-7 overall and 1-2 in district play. The team’s two league losses came in narrow defeats to Hardin County and Dyer County, the teams atop the district standings.
“The margin of error for us against really good teams is almost zero, but at the same time we’re in games a lot of people don’t think we should be,” Poindexter said. “I give credit to the girls because they work hard and they’re scrappy. I think on the right night we can beat just about anybody.”
