Girls Basketball: Cougars' comeback falls short

Down 40-29 with less than four minutes left in Tuesday’s game against Byron, Zumbrota-Mazeppa appeared dead in the water. But an 11-1 run put the Cougars behind 41-40 with just eight seconds remaining.

Looking to complete the comeback, Z-M’s chances were dashed when an inbounds pass was stolen by the Bears under the rim, as Byron escaped with a 41-40 win in Zumbrota.

“Our girls played really well down the stretch against a good team,” said Cougars head coach Scott Paukert. “We never gave up. I feel so badly for the girls that we came up just short.”

Laura Brunner paced the Cougars with a team-high 10 points and six rebounds, while Carley Henning and Molly Lawler had nine and eight points, respectively.

After going 0-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half, Z-M (4-10, 1-3 HVL Blue) found its outside shot in the second half, going 5 of 12 from beyond the arc.

Reed Klunder led the Bears (10-3, 3-2 HVL Gold) with 10 points, while Danielle Adams and Vanessa Anderson each had seven in the victory.

The Cougars are on the road Friday for an HVL Blue game at Pine Island.

Tags: girls basketball, sports, prep, zumbrota, mazeppa