SHINNSTON, W.Va. — Scoring didn’t come easily for Lincoln throughout the majority of the first three quarters in Thursday’s contest with Tucker County.
The Cougars still found a way to trail by two with 8 minutes remaining, and their offense came to life in a major way down the stretch.
Lincoln’s 19-point fourth quarter was highlighted by three three-pointers over the first 2:05 of the frame, and the Cougars closed strong to claim a 45-37 win against the Mountain Lions.
“Hopefully, this will validate the fact that we’re getting pretty good and we’re going to have a chance to knock off some people,” Cougars’ head coach Rob Hawkins said. “When you beat Tucker County, it is a quality win. I couldn’t tell you the last time they had a bad team. They’re always good.”
Tucker (14-3) led 28-26 to start the fourth before a triple from Dakota Davisson put LHS (11-7) in front to stay.
Gracie Fortney followed with a trey for a four-point lead, and after Tucker’s Willow Carroll split two free throws, Davisson connected from long range again for a six-point advantage.
Three-pointer from Fortney 55 seconds into the 4th quarter that gave Lincoln a 32-28 lead in its 45-37 win over Tucker County.#wvgirlsbb pic.twitter.com/8rv927YZk5
— Greg Carey (@gcarey938) February 13, 2026
The Mountain Lions’ Makenna Evans accounted for consecutive baskets that allowed TCHS to trail by two, and she scored again with 3:20 left to trim the Lincoln lead to 37-35.
Then came perhaps the most important basket of the outing, a short pull-up jumper from Ava McGill, allowing the Cougars to double their lead with 2:45 remaining.
Pull up jumper from Lincoln’s McGill that gave the Cougars a 4-point lead with 2:45 left in 45-37 win over Tucker County.#wvgirlsbb pic.twitter.com/tJyDfVjJbh
— Greg Carey (@gcarey938) February 13, 2026
McGill accounted for the next bucket, too, leaving the Mountain Lions with a six-point deficit at the 2-minute mark.
After Carroll’s mid-range jumper cut the Tucker deficit to four, Brystol Toth converted a transition layup that helped the Cougars preserve their third straight win.
“They’re long and that bothered us, but we didn’t move the ball as efficiently as we should have to create open opportunities,and when we had open looks, most of the time they didn’t fall,” Tucker coach Alisha McCune said.
LHS got off to a strong start and led 6-0 before falling flat on both ends for the remainder of the opening quarter.
Tucker’s Mayah Gross helped her team settle in with consecutive triples, and Gross made another three as part of her 11-point first quarter that helped the Mountain Lions lead 16-8.
It was a 21-12 advantage for Tucker before Fortney’s three started a 7-0 Cougars’ spurt to end the half, allowing LHS to trail by two at the break.
“The zone slowed them down enough that we could catch them before the half, and in the second half, they continued to have trouble to score, so we stuck with it the rest of the game,” Hawkins said.
The game was tied at 26 late in the third and Evans scored just before the buzzer sounded, allowing the visitors to maintain their two-point advantage through three.
But Tucker’s third-quarter struggles offensively carried over into the fourth, and a 16-point second half prevented the Mountain Lions from notching a 15th win this season.
McGill led five Lincoln scorers with 11 points. Aundrea Rockwell followed with 10 points and nine rebounds, while Fortney, Toth and Davisson scored eight apiece.
Fortney dished out a game-high eight assists.
“The last three or four games, she’s been stuffing the stat sheet,” Hawkins said, “and she’s playing the best basketball of her career and helping us as we nurture younger kids to get better.”
Toth added a game-best 10 boards to help Lincoln out-rebound Tucker, 41-36.
Evans paced the Mountain Lions with 14 points and 10 boards.
Tucker hit four of its five threes in the first quarter and did not make one after halftime.
“I sometimes think you learn more from a loss and we have to finish better around the rim,” McCune said. “We have to find a deeper level of intensity to finish the season strong.”