COVINGTON – The Covington Lady Buccs overcame a slow start to put together an impressive 52-34 win over Piqua in the season opener on Friday.

It was a special night as the Lady Buccs basketball program honored two legendary ladies prior to the game, ladies who had a huge impact on the start of the program in the 1970s and 80s – Marty Dale and Donna Dewey.

There was high energy at the start of the game by Covington, but unfortunately points scored were hard to accumulate as several shots bounced off the rim. Fortunately, the Lady Buccs were able to build a 12-7 lead after one period of play.

Piqua gave a relentless effort itself and were able to tie the score at 12-12 early in the second period, but back-to-back treys by Avery Koffer and Emalyn Johnson ignited the Lady Buccs as they took a 28-18 lead at the break.

The Lady Buccs pushed their lead to 43-24 by outscoring Piqua 15-6 in the third period and then cruised to an 18-point victory. The key for Covington was the defensive pressure implemented throughout the game.

Junior Avery Koffer had a huge night for the Lady Buccs as she scored a game-high 25 points. Koffer knocked down four treys, three two-point buckets and went seven-for-seven from the free throw line.

Senior Maggie Anderson was a primary focus by Piqua’s defense, but she was able to score 12 points on the night.

Covington (1-0) travels to Fairlawn tomorrow night in another non-conference game that starts at 6:00pm.

	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	FINAL
COVINGTON	12	16	15	9	54
PIQUA	7	11	6	10	24

PIQUA SCORING:
Audrey Bean – 16
Aubree Carroll – 6
Audrey Applegate – 5
Haylie Schultz – 4
D’Vaya Cooper- 3

COVINGTON SCORING:
Avery Koffer – 25
Maggie Anderson – 12
Emalyn Johnson – 6
Delaney Murphy – 5
Gabrielle Hartwig – 4

3-point field goals: Piqua: Bean, Applegate. Covington: Koffer (4), Murphy, Johnson, Anderson (2)