The Mercury of the girls 11-14 Washington Youth Basketball League picked up another win on Saturday against the Cougars, 35-24.

“Honestly, we missed a lot of layups and weren’t good on the free throw percentage,” said Head Coach John Lampkins. “Today should have been a day they took a loss. They were sluggish, dragging their feet, they weren’t in a good defense stance and the other team came out strong.”

Playing superb defense through the first half, the Mercury and Cougars had trouble finding an offensive rhythm early. Point guard Kymijah Williams ran the floor nicely, creating opportunities and keeping her team in the game. She finished with eight points.

The Cougars led 13-9 at the break, but their strong defensive play would not last. The guard-forward combination of Cyntavea Blackledge and MiAsia Roberson proved to be too much for the Cougars’ transition game. Roberson led all scorers with 19 points, most of which were scored in the second half.

“She came through for us, but she took a long time today,” said Lampkins. “She needs to realize that she’s a presence around the basket, her and Zikeria [Hardy]. If they just stay around the basket, we’re hard to beat, but when we’re out of position, any team can beat us.”

Hardy ended with six points, while Kimijah Williams led the Cougars with eight points.

“If don’t learn how to play all four quarters strong, they should expect a loss,” said Lampkins. “They bounced back as usual in the third and fourth quarter, but we need to learn to become a first and second quarter team.”

The Cougars are set to play the Mystics on Wednesday at 8:30. The Mercury don’t play again until Saturday when they rematch against the Cougars.