By Jim Mashek – ST Writer- Photos by Marlow Hazard
Caroline Forrester was one of the last Warren East players to emerge from the locker room.
Make that a delirious locker room.
Forrester and teammate Lucy Patterson came up with the big plays and the Lady Raiders showed plenty of mental toughness down the stretch, as Warren East pulled out a dramatic 57-52 victory over South Warren in the KHSAA District 14 Tournament on Wednesday night.
On the Lady Spartans’ home floor.
Warren East (18-9) trailed by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, but the Lady Raiders were undaunted.
“I’m so proud of these girls,” said Forrester, a 5-foot-11 junior forward. “I’m proud of everybody in this program. It’s a big step for the Lady Raiders.”
It was a breakthrough victory for Warren East and first-year coach Jenny Neville. The Lady Raiders will be making their first regional tournament appearance since 2008. Warren East will face No. 1 seed Bowling Green (24-6) for the District 14 championship at 6 p.m. on Thursday evening.
“I knew it had been a while, but not 2008,” Deville said with a relieved smile. “It’s awesome. It’s very emotional, a big lift for the program. We went with our 1-3-1 zone defense, and forced them to take some quick shots. Then our defense drives our offense.
“This team never quits. No matter what.”
South Warren, which finishes its season at 14-17, scored the game’s first eight points and used Lydia Frank’s open 3-pointer for an 18-6 advantage after the first quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same, but Forrester’s put-back with 1:15 left in the first half trimmed the Lady Raiders’ deficit to 10 points.
“South Warren did a good job, defensively, in the first half,” Neville said. “But we’ve been in this situation before. Quite a few times, in fact.”
With a minute left in regulation, point guard Hailey Hymer put Warren East in front 46-45 with a free throw. The game was tied at 47 going into overtime, when Forrester and Patterson came up with the critical plays to turn the Lady Raiders away.
Robinson led the Lady Raiders with 16 points while Forrester and Olivia Price added 12 and 11, respectively. Brooke Stevenson led South Warren with 15 points and was one of three Lady Spartans to foul out in the game. Karson Deaton had 11 points for South Warren and Taylor Enlow finished with nine.
Patterson couldn’t stop smiling when it was over.
“All I know,” she said, “is we’re going to be playing at DIddle next week.”
