Warren Central was happy to be back home.
After losing three straight games – all of which came on the road – the Dragons bounced back and returned to their usual winning ways with a dominating 79-51 victory over Greenwood on Friday night at Warren Central High School.
“We had a bad stretch,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “I told ‘em, ‘We’re not a bad team. We had a bad stretch of basketball.’ You lose three games by two points each, and in the fourth quarter and overtime of those three games we were 12-of-27 from the free-throw line. Ain’t gonna win many games that way.”
The Dragons (9-6, 2-1 District 14) lost 77-75 at Allen County-Scottsville on Jan. 7, 51-49 at Hopkinsville on Jan. 8 and most recently suffered a 76-74 overtime defeat Tuesday at South Warren. In each of the three games, Warren Central held leads but wasn’t able to capitalize down the stretch and fell short.
After Tuesday’s setback, the team took Wednesday off and on Thursday decided to watch film and have a group discussion – and it ended up being a big help.
“We took Wednesday off and came back in Thursday and watched film and ate pizza,” Unseld said. “We let them figure it out. All the credit goes to them. When you’re dealing with teenagers, some of them have stuff going on off the floor. They locked in and they got each other ready to go.
“They get all the credit because they pushed each other and were ready to go.”
Warren Central controlled things from the start, building a 11-3 lead just under four minutes in and stretching the advantage to 22-9 after the opening quarter. The Dragons went on to knock down seven 3-pointers in the first half and took a commanding 41-19 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
The Dragons continued to execute in the ensuing half, led 59-35 after three and kept Greenwood from ever getting into a rhythm.
“It was good,” Warren Central junior Dre Boyd said regarding Thursday’s team meeting. “We were all tired of losing. We knew we weren’t supposed to be losing, so we just had to get it together and play right. That’s what happened – and we came out and got the dub.”
Boyd finished with a team-high 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the Dragons and was one of four in double figures. Alongside Boyd, Kobe Brents splashed four 3-pointers and scored 16 points, while Tegra Muleka tallied 12 and Tayshaun Bibb added 11.
Ben Carroll led the Gators (8-10, 2-3) with a game-high 26 points.
Warren Central faces a quick turnaround as it hosts rival Bowling Green (15-2, 4-0) – winners of nine straight – at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s gonna be a tough game – always is,” said Unseld. “It’s the 14th District. We’ve just gotta come and fight and try to get better. We’re gonna come, put our hard hat on and see what happens.”
Greenwood – 9 10 16 16 — 51
Warren Central – 22 19 18 20 — 79
GHS – Ben Carroll 26, Jack Roberts 6, Noah Stansbury 6, Cade Stinnett 5, Chandler Wilson 4, Parker Williams 3, Peyton Loggins 2.
WCHS – Dre Boyd 20, Kobe Brents 16, Tegra Muleka 12, Tayshaun Bibb 11, Kamden Lawrence 7, Tre Pillow 5, Geovonni Floyd 4, Tayton Smith 3, Antonio Barbee 1.
Lady Gators roll past Lady Dragons
Jacqueline Jackson scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, Carly Miller finished with a double-double of 16 and 13 and Megan Une added 11 points to lead the Greenwood girls’ basketball team to a comfortable 60-34 win over Warren Central on Friday at Warren Central High School.
The Lady Gators (10-8, 2-3) – who have now won four straight – built a 20-6 lead after the opening quarter and held a 35-15 advantage at halftime. Up 52-19 entering the fourth, Greenwood was able to cruise through the final eight minutes en route to another check in the win column.
“District wins are great,” Greenwood coach Zach Simpson said. “We told the girls what we had to do tonight to come in here and get a ‘W,’ and for about three and-a-half quarters they executed it exactly how we wanted to. We had to be a step ahead in our defensive effort tonight – and for the most part, we did that.”
La Aunhni Lewis paced the Lady Dragons (0-16, 0-3) with a team-high 8 points, while Kyleigh Ray scored seven points and Taelor Leach and Krisheana Johnson each finished with six.
Greenwood – 20 15 17 8 — 60
Warren Central – 6 9 4 15 — 34
GHS – Jacqueline Jackson 19, Carly Miller 16, Megan Une 11, Leia Trinh 5, Nicole Milam 4, KK Keener 3, Rachel Evans 2.
WCHS – La Aunhni Lewis 8, Kyleigh Ray 7, Taelor Leach 6, Krisheana Johnson 6, Alyssa Conner 5, T’Ona Shaver 2.
