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Mountain Heritage defendersw Brianna Woody #32 and Abby Bailey #20 chase a Lady Mountaineer up court on a fast break in the Lady Cougar win in Ledger last week. The Lady Cougars won the WHC regular season title with victories over Mitchell and Avery County . Photos by David Grindstaff

The Lady Cougar varsity wrapped up the Western Highlands Conference regular season title and the top seed in the upcoming league tournament with two impressive wins over nearby rivals Mitchell and Avery County last week.

With the help of a Madison win over Avery earlier in the week, the Lady Cougars were able to grab the crown with a hard fought victory over the Lady Vikings in Burnsville on Friday night.

Heritage (20-2, 12-1) with the help of some energetic defense and clutch shooting by Maria Kardulis and Nyssa Freeman, scored the first ten points of the game to get out of the gate fast. The Lady Cougars never trailed in the contest for first place in the league standings.

The Lady Cougars led 13-4 after the first eight minutes and behind eight second quarter points by Brianna Woody, Heritage maintained a 30-20 advantage at the intermission.

Avery (17-4, 10-3) cut the Cougar lead to 4 points midway through the third but Heritage pushed the lead back out to 11 going into the 4th quarter after scoring the final six points of the quarter.

With Heritage Coach Susie Shelton substituting liberally throughout the contest, the Lady Cougars played a very physical game and in the end wore down the talented Lady Vikings.

A group effort in the final eight minutes allowed the Lady Cougars to maintain a comfortable margin until the end. Heritage got scoring from Abby Bailey, Samm Chandler, Maria Kardulis, Kaylon Johnson and leading scorer Brianna Woody in a nine point 4th quarter.

Woody finished with 21 points on a variety of shots, even though she was slowed by an injured hand. Maria Kardulis scored with 8 points and Samm Chandler and Kaylon Johnson tallied 6 points apiece in the important WHC win.

On Tuesday the Lady Cougar traveled to Mitchell and came away with a 52-40 victory.