Barren County got off to a blazing start in its first-round game against Bowling Green in the Fourth Region Tournament, as the Trojanettes took a 36-30 lead into the locker room thanks to 13-of-20 shooting from the field in the first half.
But the Trojanettes would cool off and score just two field goals and seven points overall in the final 16 minutes.
Bowling Green cranked up the pressure on the defensive end to force Barren County into 17 turnovers, and the Lady Purples held the Trojanettes to just 2-of-19 sniping from the field in a 58-43 victory at E.A. Diddle Arena on Monday night.
“It feels great to be able to come in (Diddle Arena) and do this,” Bowling Green coach Calvin Head said. “Coming in a lot of people said this would be a down year for these young ladies, but they’ve really surpassed the odds. That’s kudos to them.”
But it was not easy sailing all the way through the game on Monday night for Bowling Green.
“(Barren County) shredded our defense in the first half, and halftime couldn’t come quick enough so we could make some adjustments,” Head said. “They did exactly what we told them to do at halftime.”
Head and his staff made the adjustments at halftime after Barren County seemed to be clicking on all cylinders in the first half, but forcing Barren County guards Bailey Pedigo and Elizabeth Bertram to go to their right in the second half is the change that really paid dividends for the Lady Purples.
“Man-to-man and cut off the left side of the floor,” said Head when asked about the defensive strategy his team utilized in their dominant second-half performance. “They killed us going left the entire first half, and we made an adjustment to cut the left side off and force them right. We got to our help spots, and we were able to clean the backboard up.”
Barren County was without the services of starting point guard Mallory Pedigo, who tore the ACL in her right knee at practice on Saturday.
Even though her team fell flat in the second half offensively, Barren County coach Piper Lindsey was still proud of the effort that her players gave.
“We had a great first half,” Lindsey said. “Second half they picked up the pressure and we turned the ball over at times. We got some shots, but they just didn’t fall and it’s hard to get things going when shots don’t fall. But the girls did a great job. They did the best they could, they left it all out on the floor, and you can’t fault them for that.”
Barren County (25-7) held a 14-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter, and the Trojanettes built their lead up to 24-16 after a 3-pointer by sophomore Elizabeth Bertram.
The Lady Purples responded with a 5-0 run to make it a one-possession game, and the two sides swapped baskets before a basket and a pair of free throws by Bailey Pedigo pushed the lead to 31-25 with 1:26 left before halftime.
Taylor Ragland found the bottom of the net on a 3-pointer to chip the Trojanettes’ lead down to 33-29, but Eve Jackson answered right back with a trifecta of her own to extend the lead back to seven. Keyozdon Jones tallied one free throw before the intermission for the Lady Purples to make the score 36-30 Barren County at the break.
But the Lady Purples would own the final two quarters of play.
Bowling Green (18-12) converted when it had numbers in transition with a layup by Keyozdon Jones to tie it up at 38-all with four minutes left in third before Bailey Pedigo split makes on two separate sets of free throws to give Barren a 40-38 lead with 1:43 left in the frame.
Jones then came down and netted a 3-pointer from the right corner to give Bowling Green the lead for the first time since the first quarter, and the Lady Purples entered the fourth quarter with a 41-40 lead.
Jones continued her onslaught with a bucket to open the final frame, and Shalyn Whitson scored off an offensive rebound to push the lead to 45-40.
Keely Morrow found the mark on a step-back 3-pointer with 4:41 left in regulation to make the score 48-40, and Barren County was unable to get any closer the rest of the way.
Bailey Pedigo scored on a driving layup with 15 seconds left for Barren County—marking the first field goal for the Trojanettes in the second half since Elizabeth Bertram scored a basket in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
Bertram and Pedigo led Barren County in the loss with 15 and 17 points, respectively.
Morrow topped all Lady Purple scorers with 13 points while Jones and Whitson had 11 apiece. Ragland also tallied 10 points for Bowling Green.
The Lady Purples will now face Logan County on Friday night at 6 p.m. Bowling Green defeated the Lady Cougars in their lone meeting during the regular season on Feb. 13 by a score of 69-47.
