Warren Central made sure to come out on top this time.
After losing 59-55 to Greenwood back on Feb. 8, the Dragons knew they wanted revenge this time around. They were granted their wish – and extended their season – with a 45-37 win over the Gators on Tuesday night in the District 14 Tournament semifinals at Warren East High School.
“There were a couple of big plays that hurt us in the first half that kind of stopped our run, like what should’ve been a goaltending. They don’t call that and we lose momentum and we just freeze for a while,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “My kids did a good job of just fighting. When they could’ve just said, ‘We’re not making any shots – we’re done.’ They fought and kept getting each other up.”
The Dragons – now 17-10 on the year – led 17-13 after the opening quarter but were outscored 10-1 in the second to trail 23-18 at halftime. WCHS was outscored again, 13-10, in the third before putting together a dominant fourth, which included it outscoring Greenwood 17-1, to come out on top.
Kobe Brents led Warren Central with a game-high 21 points, while Dre Boyd finished with 16. Tayshaun Bibb rounded out the Dragons’ stat sheet with six points.
With the Dragons’ victory, they’ll now meet longtime rival Bowling Green at 6 p.m. Thursday for the district championship and will play in next week’s Region 4 Tournament at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.
“Coach just told us, ‘If y’all really want this, go get it,” Brents said. “Just put our team on our back and just go. We just went to work.”
Jack Roberts led the Gators (16-12) with 13 points in his final high school game. Ben Carroll added nine.
The two sides played a competitive first quarter.
Warren Central led 4-3 early after a jumper from Brents, but Greenwood jumped in front 9-8 at the 4:04 mark on a bucket from Roberts. A Brents 3-pointer put the Dragons up 15-10 with 2:54 remaining in the period, and it soon led 17-12 after one.
Greenwood controlled the ensuing frame, outscoring Warren Central 10-1 to re-take the lead. A 5-0 run to open the second made it 18-17 at the 4:13 mark before a Noah Stansbury 3 gave the Gators a 21-17 advantage.
The run extended to 10-0 on a score from Carroll, but the Dragons finally scored a point with Brents’ free throw with 0.3 seconds left to cut Greenwood’s lead to 23-18 at the break.
Roberts and Carroll were each up to 7 points after 16 minutes of action, while Stansbury had tallied six. Brents was leading Warren Central with 11 points.
Greenwood continued to execute in the second half.
Warren Central got within 26-20 with a score from Boyd, but the Gators put together a quick run – which included a pair of scores from Cade Stinnett – to build a 32-22 lead at the 4:42 mark of the third quarter.
The Dragons answered and soon cut their deficit down to single digits at 34-26, but Greenwood still held a 36-28 advantage entering the fourth.
“We just have to keep that dog in us – that fight,” Brents said. “Keep that dog in us and we’ll go a long way.”
Three straight free throws from Brents – followed by a put-back layup by Boyd – quickly brought Central to within 36-33 at the 6:47 mark of the final quarter. That five-point spurt by the Dragons soon turned into a 9-0 run and gave them a 37-36 lead with 4:35 left after a basket from Boyd.
Another pair of field goals from Warren Central – both coming from Brents and Boyd – pushed its advantage to 41-36 with 1:38 to go. Greenwood continued to fight in the closing minutes, but the Dragons were able to make clutch free throws and keep their season alive.
“Tomorrow’s for fun,” Unseld said. “You want to cut those nets down, but we didn’t win it last year and we (still) did what we needed to do. We’re gonna go and compete and see what happens. They know what we’re gonna do and we know what they’re gonna do. It ain’t rocket science in this one – just go play.”
Greenwood – 13 10 13 1 — 37
Warren Central – 17 1 10 17 — 45
GHS – Roberts 13, Carroll 9, N. Stansbury 6, Williams 5, Stinnett 4.
WCHS – Brents 21, Boyd 16, Bibb 6, Muleka 2.
Lady Purples roll into District 14 championship, earn Region 4 bid
Keyozdon Jones scored a game-high 16 points and Taylor Ragland finished with 13 to lead the Bowling Green girls’ basketball team to a dominant 70-43 win over Warren East on Wednesday in the District 14 Tournament semifinals at Warren East High School.
The No.2 seed Lady Purples – now 23-7 on the season – will now meet top-seeded South Warren in Friday’s district final for the sixth consecutive season and play in next week’s Region 4 Tournament at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.
Bowling Green built an 18-4 lead after the opening quarter and pushed its advantage to a comfortable 45-10 at halftime. Taking advantage of the lopsided scoreboard, the Lady Purples were able to cruise throughout the second half and keep their season alive.
“I thought in the first half we did exactly what we wanted to do defensively,” Bowling Green coach Calvin Head said. “It all started defensively. I know we scored a bunch of points, but a lot of that was triggered off our defense. When we’re moving around and flying around defensively, we cause havoc and it allows us to score.
“I thought for 16 minutes there we did a great job.”
While Jones and Ragland led the way for BGHS, Meadow Tisdale rounded out the stat sheet with 11 points.
Kelsey Sparks paced Warren East (14-17) with 14 points in its season-ending defeat.
Bowling Green and South Warren will tip-off at 6 p.m. Friday at WEHS.
“I’m sure our seniors want to leave with that on their plate, but Friday’s a bonus,” said Head. “We’re gonna come and play hard and try and slow down their offense somehow.”
Warren East – 4 6 22 11 — 43
Bowling Green – 18 27 13 12 — 70
WE – Sparks 14, Bailey 12, Patterson 9, Price 3, Forrester 2, Mann 2, Hymer 1.
BG – Jones 16, Ragland 13, Tisdale 11, Brown 7, Shelton 6, K. Gray 3.
