Alexander traveled to Columbus High School Tuesday evening for the second round of the 5-AAAA Region Tourney. The game got off to a late start when the roof at Columbus started leaking in the early game and a new gym had to be found.

The Alexander-Columbus game did not kick off until 8:45 p.m. because of the change. The Lady Cougars played hard despite the late changes but would fall, 52-40, ending the AHS girls’ season.

“This was one of the best games we have played all year,” said Alexander coach Marcy Camp. “We kept up with them, forcing turnovers and picking up points at critical times. I could not be more proud of this team.”

Columbus opened the first quarter with a 15-11 lead and led 24-19 at the half. They were up 36-31 at the end of the third.

Alexander’s offense was led by Daijea Anderson, who had 18 points, while also grabbing 10 rebounds.

“She had two fouls early on and I had to sit her and I think that made her a little stir-crazy,” Camp said. “But she came out and scored 12 points in the third quarter. She did not want the season to end.”

Claudia Hester followed Anderson with 11 points. Molly Brown added eight.

Despite the loss, Camp believes this team has a bright future next season.

“We were a young team,” she said. “We had one starting senior. Our starting point guard is a sophomore, the first girl off the bench is a sophomore, and our leading scorer is a junior. We are going to come back with a vengeance next year.”

:This was a great season and we gave a lot of good teams good ball games,” Camp concluded.