GLASGOW—The last time Glasgow and Allen County-Scottsville met on the hardwood on Jan. 22, the Lady Patriots dismantled Glasgow 57-26 on the Lady Scotties’ home floor.
ACS returned to Glasgow for the first round of the 15th District Tournament on Monday night, and the Lady Scotties avenged that earlier loss to the Lady Patriots with a 49-41 victory to advance to the title game on Thursday night.
“Couldn’t be more proud of our kids,” Glasgow head coach Justin Stinson said. “I thought we fought and defended for 32 minutes and just played really hard. They’re a good basketball team and a team that beat us by about 30 a month ago. To make a 40-point swing says a lot about these kids.”
The Glasgow players knew what they were in for going into the showdown with the Lady Patriots, but the Lady Scotties were primed and ready for the challenge.
“Earlier in the year we had beat them so we knew we had the ability to,” said Glasgow senior Kaylyn Hale, referring to Glasgow’s 44-42 win over ACS in Scottsville on Jan. 2. “We knew it was going to be a war and that we just had to come out and fight.”
The game was a fight of the defensive nature in the first half, as the two teams went to the locker room engaged in a 16-16 deadlock.
Glasgow (21-8) outscored the Lady Patriots 16-8 in the third quarter to take a 32-24 advantage into the fourth.
Freshman guard Anzley Adwell especially provided a spark for Glasgow in the third, turning deflections and steals into points on the offensive end. Adwell scored 12 of the Lady Scotties’ 16 points in the frame, and she also netted two huge 3-pointers in the period.
A basket by junior Kyeden Hughes made it 40-28 Glasgow with just 2:57 remaining in the game, but ACS would not go down easy.
The Lady Patriots (18-12) promptly scored six unanswered points thanks to a steal-and-score by Sydney Day and back-to-back baskets by Mason Towery to force a Glasgow timeout with 1:50 left.
The Lady Scotties extended their lead out to a 43-34 before a jumper by Kali Mutter from just inside the three-point line narrowed the deficit to seven points with 1:07 left.
Adwell came down and made two free throws to push the lead back to nine, and Mutter once again answered the bell by nailing a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 45-39 with 55.6 seconds left.
Glasgow made 1-of-2 free throws on the other end before ACS junior Sarah Sutton made two free throws to chip the Glasgow lead to 46-41 with 28.9 seconds remaining, but those two shots at the charity stripe would prove to be the Lady Patriots’ last points of the night.
“We just couldn’t get the one big play that we really needed to get that boost,” Allen County-Scottsville coach Brad Bonds said. “You can second guess situations throughout the entire game, but bottom line is they imposed their will in a physical way and we didn’t respond very well.”
Glasgow outworked ACS 34-23 on the boards, and the Lady Scotties shot 32 free throws while the Lady Patriots attempted just 11. Stinson was pleased with the aggressiveness his team had on offense to get this discrepancy in trips to the charity stripe.
“We’re going to play tough and stay in attack mode,” Stinson said. “We wanted to be aggressive and drive the basketball. We’re going to attack the rim, and that’s what it’s about: it’s about us being aggressive and being the aggressor every time down the floor. We’re fighting and battling, and that’s what gets you to the free throw line is those toughness plays and effort plays.”
Adwell led Glasgow in the win with 24 points, and the freshman was 8-of-13 at the free-throw line.
Amanda Lee had eight points, MaKena Harbison seven, and Hale, Kayla Bradley and Dynasti Page each finished with three.
ACS was led in the loss by Towery with 12 points and five rebounds while Mutter added seven points. Day and Bailee Alderson each had six points, and Sutton finished with five.
Glasgow will now host Barren County and compete for the 15th District title on Thursday night at 6 p.m. The Lady Scotties split with the Trojanettes during the regular season, recording a 41-39 overtime victory in the last meeting between the two schools. Stinson knows that the road will not get any easier for his team.
“In the 15th District it’s a war and we’ve been in a war every single year that I’ve been here,” Stinson said. “We have not had an easy game in eight years, and it’s just always a war.”
