SKIDMORE — The Lady Cat varsity basketball team went cold at the wrong time on Friday, Dec. 14 as the visiting Taft Lady ’Hounds forced the S-T girls into overtime and captured a 52-46 victory.

“This was a very good ball game. The Lady Cats played a very tough game against a very good Taft team,” said S-T head coach Joseph Grimes III.

The two teams looked to be headed to a possible extra period early in the contest as neither team could gain a sure foothold on the lead. The Lady Cats held a slim advantage, 16-13, at the end of one period. That margin held up over the second eight-minute period as both teams hit for 11 points. It was a 27-24 contest at the half.

The home team lost one point of their lead in the third period, 11-10, but the Lady ’Hounds gained two more points, 11-9, on the Lady Cats in the fourth period to force the extra five-minute period. It was all tied at 46-46 heading into overtime.

The shooting touch of the home team went out the door in that extra period as the Taft girls shut out the home team 6-0 to capture the hard-fought win at 52-46.

Mari Martinez led the Lady Cats in scoring with 15 points on the night. Courtney Leonard followed with 12 markers. Zehila Frias hit for eight points, while Kayla DeLeon and Isabel Jimenez both added four points to the mix. Amber Hughlett closed out the S-T scoring with three tallies.

“It was great to see these girls battle for a win but disappointing that we came up short. If we can take that competitive mentality into all our games, we will see a lot more wins,” Grimes said.