GLASGOW – Bowling Green’s hot streak has extended another day.
The Lady Purples – which have yet to lose a single game since opening the season with a 52-44 loss at Webster County – continued to play at a high level and extended their winning streak to six games with an impressive 62-47 win over Region 4 foe Glasgow on Monday evening at Glasgow High School.
The victory marked Bowling Green’s second of the year over the Lady Scotties as it also won 49-27 on Dec. 1 in the State Farm 14th vs. 15th District Challenge.
“We’re just steadily improving – and that’s all we want to do,” Bowling Green head coach Calvin Head said. “We don’t want to take what we’re doing in December and try to predict what’s going to happen in February. We just want to get better. There’s still some areas that we didn’t key on out here, and we need to continue to improve in those.”
Bowling Green (6-1 overall) led by just two at 11-9 after the opening quarter but later built a 28-18 advantage at halftime. The Lady Purples turned up their intensity in the second half and pushed the lead to 40-26 and, despite a strong comeback effort from Glasgow, were able to hold on for the win.
Keyozdon Jones led the way for Bowling Green with a game-high 19 points – 13 coming in the fourth quarter, while T’Alla Brown finished with 17 and Kiyah Gray added 10.
Ashanti Gore and Anzley Adwell each scored 11 points to carry Glasgow (6-2).
“We’re improving. That’s what we’re doing,” Jones said. “I see progress – a whole lot of progress. We just need to keep grinding and keep going down the stretch hoping we can get more big wins.”
The two sides played a competitive opening quarter, but Bowling Green was the aggressor in the second period.
As Brown’s bucket just before the buzzer gave the Lady Purples an 11-9 lead after one, the momentum quickly swung over to their side entering the ensuing frame. Opening the second with a 7-0 run, Bowling Green pushed its advantage to 18-9 and triggered a Glasgow timeout.
The Lady Purples continued to execute throughout the half as their lead only increased. A pair of free throws from Brown put Bowling Green up 28-14 – its largest lead of the game – with 3:09 remaining in the second. Glasgow answered with scores on back-to-back possessions, but the Lady Purples still led 28-18 at halftime.
Brown was already up to 13 points at the break, while Adwell was pacing Glasgow with five points. Bowling Green forced 14 turnovers in the first half and knocked down three three-pointers to help it build the double-digit advantage it did.
“It shows that we’re growing up, because we’re a young team and we’ve got a bunch of younger kids,” Brown said. “We have to work as a team. Nobody works alone.”
Bowling Green continued to execute in the ensuing half.
Leading by 10 at the break, the Lady Purples soon matched their largest lead of 14 at 36-22 at the 2:50 mark of the third. Taylor Ragland’s bucket just 26 seconds later pushed Bowling Green’s advantage to 38-22.
“Our guards are doing a good job of starting our defensive intensities, so if we can just continue to do that and continue to improve in some certain areas, we’re going to be OK,” said Head.
Glasgow got within 38-26, but Brown followed with a pair of free throws to make it 40-26 – and the Lady Purples took same lead into the final quarter.
Although it trailed by 14, the Glasgow wasn’t going away.
“We made progress,” Glasgow head coach Justin Stinson said. “I felt like tonight was a little bit more of a grind. I thought our kids continued to battle and continued to fight and got it within single digits there in the fourth quarter but just couldn’t make the shot or get the stop we needed.”
Using an 8-2 run to open the fourth, the Lady Scotties trimmed their deficit to 42-34 with just over five minutes remaining. Jones responded with an and-one to put Bowling Green back up by 11, but Amanda Lee fired back with a tough bucket inside to bring Glasgow within nine.
Glasgow kept playing hard and did what it could to make a comeback, but the Lady Purples were able to hold off their opponent and earn another victory.
“Everybody works together, and we just become closer and closer,” said Brown.
Bowling Green returns to action Wednesday in a 9 p.m. contest against Ballard in the Queen of the Commonwealth at Bullitt East. Glasgow will be back on the hardwood Thursday against Thomas Nelson in the LaRue County Lady Hawks Holiday Classic at LaRue County. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
Bowling Green – 11 17 12 22 – 62
Glasgow – 9 9 8 21 – 47
BG – Keyozdon Jones 19, T’Alla Brown 17, Kiyah Gray 10, Saniyah Shelton 6, LynKaylah James 6, Taylor Ragland 4.
GHS – Ashanti Gore 11, Anzley Adwell 11, KJ Hughes 9, Amanda Lee 9, Kayla Bradley 4, Dynasti Page 3.
