Southwood coach Terry Josting missed part of the second quarter with potential flu-like symptoms and leading scorer Chelsea Tieuel was off her usual sharp-shooting game, but the Lady Cowboys didn’t need much from either in rolling over Haughton 68-46 on Friday night at Southwood.

Thanks to a barrage of second-half 3-pointers from freshmen Danesha Hall and Jaiylan Brown, along with senior Alexus Howard, the Lady Cowboys (19-6, 6-0) maintained their one-game lead over Airline in the District 1-5A race. The Lady Vikings (15-10, 5-1) got past Captain Shreve 59-49 on Friday.

“We have some shooters on this team and our shots started falling in the second half,” said Josting, maintaining a safe distance from players, parents and reporters following the game. “It may not be traditional Southwood basketball, but I like the 3-point line. We missed some in the first half, but we can fill it up when we get hot.”

And hot is something the Southwood youngsters became after their team led just 25-22 at halftime. Hall and Brown took turns dropping in two apiece from behind the arc in the third quarter to give the Lady Cowboys a double-digit lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Brown dropped in another seconds into the final frame, then Howard took over. She nailed 3-of-3 from downtown to give her team a 20-point lead with three minutes to play.

“When they’re shooting like that there’s not much we can do,” Haughton coach Jennifer Pesnell said. “We’d drop back to try to take away penetration and they’d kick it out – and they were hitting them. They didn’t shoot that well the first time we played them, and they didn’t shoot that well in the first half.”

Southwood’s defense also did a number on the Haughton (19-9, 3-3) cousins Brittany Robinett and Chelcy Swint, who contributed 8 and 6 tough points respectively. Junior Mattie McCoy held her own inside with 16 points, while Ebone Green added 11, but it wasn’t enough.

“Haughton played us tough the first time and they are a scrappy bunch,” Josting said. “Tonight was close until we started hitting the 3s. And we went to a zone in the second half and they seemed to struggle with that.”

The perimeter shooting of the Lady Cowboys was so effective that senior Michelle Parker (10 points) said little was needed in the paint.

“They were doubling down on our posts, so it was better to go outside,” Parker said. “I like games like this better than ones that can go either way down the stretch.”

It was a balanced scoring night for Southwood with five players in double figures led by Brown (15), Howard (12), Hall (11), Shaun O’Guin (11) and Parker. Tieuel, normally a 20-point scorer, finished with 9 points and didn’t start the game due to a minor disciplinary measure.

The Lady Cowboys increased their point output in every quarter, including a 23-point fourth-quarter outburst.