By Jim Mashek – Sporting Times
Savannah Gregory is one of the grizzled vets of the Campbellsville University women’s basketball team, a redshirt senior majoring in education at the NAIA school located about 90 minutes from her home in Scottsville.
“We’ve made more appearances in the NAIA national tournament than any other school in women’s basketball,” Gregory said after the Lady Tigers drubbed Lindsey Wilson College 81-57 on Monday afternoon in semifinal play of the Mid-South Conference Tournament at Studle Financial Arena.
Gregory and five Campbellsville teammates from KHSAA Fourth Region programs have returned to the campus of Bowling Green High School in pursuit of another Mid-South championship and subsequent berth in the NAIA national tournament.
It was another former Allen County-Scottsville standout, however — first-year Lady Tigers forward Sarah Sutton — who had the hot hand for Campbellsville, scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. The Lady Tigers’ Courtney Pritchett was named Player of the Game after finishing with 19 points and two assists in the rout of Lindsey Wilson.
Campbellsville improved to 18-1 with the victory and will now face Thomas More (Ky.) in the Mid-South championship game at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Sutton spent her freshman year as a scholarship athlete at Murray State, a Division I mid-major that competes in the Ohio Valley Conference. She now is part of Campbellsville coach Ginger High Colvin’s 10- or 11-player rotation, which seems to give the Lady Tigers a psychological advantage as well as a physical one.
“After I’d been at Murray a while I realized it probably wasn’t the school for me,” Sutton said. “Savannah and I had played high school ball together and she kind of recruited me … After I got to Campbellsville, I knew this was where I needed to be.”
Gregory also has a critical role with the Lady Tigers, and she’s the team leader in rebounds (5.2 per game) and steals (60). Gregory also shoots 43 percent from the 3-point line, a valuable asset when Colvin makes wholesale substitutions from the Campbellsville bench.
“With our system, you have to buy in,” Colvin said. “At most, you’re going to play 16, 17 minutes a game. We have some depth, and I feel like our kids play tough.
“They’re really unselfish out there and do a good job of sharing the ball.”
Campbellsville, like many NAIA and NCAA programs, has had three interruptions of the season because of the COVID-19 protocol. The Lady Tigers were the NAIA runner-up in 2015, and they’ve been a steady contender under Colvin, who has compiled an impressive 382-86 record in 14 seasons at Campbellsville.
Sutton brings versatility to the Lady Tigers, and former Barren County guard Bailey Pedigo also turned in a strong effort for Campbellsville, finishing with seven points and two rebounds on 3-of-6 shooting.
The other Fourth Region players on the Campbellsville roster are former Barren County star Elizabeth Bertram, a freshman guard, and Glasgow High School product Ashanti Gore, a freshman forward.
“I’m just a point guard who’s out there trying to set up the offense,” Pedigo said with a smile. “We are a deep team, and I think that helps with our confidence.”
Lindsey Wilson’s roster is stocked with plenty of Fourth Region talent, too. Senior forward Bree Glover, formerly of Glasgow High School and Western Kentucky University, paced the Blue Raiders with 11 rebounds and three steals against Campbellsville.
The other South Central Kentucky players toiling for Lindsey Wilson are junior guard Kaylyn Hale (Glasgow High School), sophomore guard Natalie Pierce (Bowling Green High School) and freshman guard Jordyn Stephens (Russell Springs High School).
Now the Lady Tigers can avenge their only loss of the season, against intrastate rival Thomas More, which claimed a 65-55 victory over Campbellsville on February 1 in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati.
“Defense creates offense for us,” Gregory said. “Defense wins games. We play like a trapping zone defense and try to emphasize our half-court game on offense.”
Sutton and Pritchett combined to hit 8 of 11 shots from 3-point range. The Lady Tigers have won seven straight games, all by comfortable margins, since their loss to Thomas More.
