Tonight the semi-finals and finals of the regional tournament were held at Allen-County Scottsville high school. There were three district winners and possibly the strongest runner up. In the first game it matched the Lady Cougars up with the up and coming Bowling Green Lady Purples.

In the first game, something or someone had stoked a fire in the Lady Purples as they shot out to an early lead. The Lady Cougars responded but Bowling Green continued knocking them away and eventually taking the first game 25-23.

In the second game the Lady Purples continued with their extremely fast and torrid pace and looked to put away the Lady Cougars. They held a commanding 21-14 lead and it looked all but certain that the Lady Purples would be the one's that moved onto the regional finals. But with one massive run the Lady Cougars came scratching, clawing and roaring back to tie the game at 22 all. Once the score was tied the Lady Purples fell apart and the Lady Cougars took game two 25-23 and forced a game three.

In game three the Lady Cougars finally took control early and didn't let it go. They stamped out every comeback attempt the Lady Purples made and won the third game and the match 25-19. Once again the Lady Cougars proved that they were the better team, but the Lady Purples will be back and stronger than ever next season.

In the other semi-finals the Greenwood Lady Gators easily dispatched the Lady Falcons of Monroe County to set up another match up of the two top teams in the region.

In the first game the Lady Cougars did everything they could but Greenwood flexed it's muscles just enough to keep the game out of reach and won the first game 25-14.

In the second game the Lady Cougars did something that no one else in the region had done.

They pushed the Lady Gators. The Lady Gators actually started to doubt themselves as they stared at a 6-2 deficit.

But the Lady Cougars couldn't keep the Lady Gators down for long. Point by point the lead started to fall. Greenwood's big guns fired off shot after shot that managed to find the holes in the Cougars improved defense again and again. Despite pushing the Gators early, the Lady Cougars couldn't hold on and fell 25-14 in the second game and once again the Greenwood Gators were dancing in the spot that the Lady Cougars wanted to be at.

But this match showed everyone who was watching that the Lady Cougars are just a small step away from finally stepping out of the Lady Gators immense shadow.

Look for more in depth coverage in Tuesday's News-Democrat&Leader.