Behind a game-high 24 points from T’Alla Brown, the Bowling Green girls’ basketball team cruised to a 78-40 win over Greenwood on Tuesday evening at Bowling Green High School.
The Lady Purples (4-1, 1-0 District 14) led by just six points at 14-8 after the opening quarter but outscored Greenwood 22-10 in the second to take total control — and they didn’t look back.
“Our strength has been defense starting out this year and our offense has kind of been behind, but now we’re starting to figure things out,” Bowling Green coach Calvin Head said. “We can force turnovers and get out in transition, then our scoring goes up.”
While Brown was the spark for Bowling Green, Taylor Ragland finished with 12 and Keyozdon Jones added 10 to round out the stat sheet.
Bowling Green set the tone of the game from the start.
After it was tied at 6-all, the Lady Purples closed the first quarter with an 8-2 run to lead 14-8 after eight minutes of action.
The run continued into the second, as Bowling Green stretched its advantage to 34-14 at the 2:23 mark to inherit all of the momentum. Greenwood scored four points compared to the Lady Purples’ two to close the half, but Bowling Green still held a 36-18 lead at the break.
Brown was already up to 17 points, while Jacqueline Jackson was pacing the Lady Gators with nine.
“I thought T’Alla set the tone early by really driving and putting pressure on their defense,” said Head.
Jackson finished with 14 to lead Greenwood (1-4, 0-1).
Ragland’s coast-to-coast bucket midway through the third quarter put Bowling Green up 48-27 — just before she scored on a tough drive inside to make it 50-27 with just over three minutes left in the period.
The Lady Purples ended the third on an 8-0 run to lead 62-35 entering the final quarter.
Taking advantage of its comfortable advantage, Bowling Green was able to coast through the fourth en route to a big victory.
“I think we do have strength in numbers, and we try to utilize that to the best of our ability,” Head said. “We’re starting to go in the right direction. It’s early, so we’ve got a lot to work on, but we’re excited about where we’re going.”
Greenwood returns to action Friday in a 6 p.m. district meeting at home against South Warren. The Lady Purples will try for a fifth straight win Saturday at Todd County Central. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m.
