Bowling Green’s girls’ basketball team is back on top of the District 14 landscape.
The Lady Purples (24-7) – seeded second in this season’s District 14 Tournament – defeated South Warren 44-34 on Friday evening at Warren East High School to capture their first district championship since 2015.
“I’m extremely proud of their defensive effort,” Bowling Green coach Calvin Head said. “That was something we really talked about coming into the postseason – just really leaning on our defense. We missed so many shots around the rim tonight, but that didn’t get us down. We just kept guarding and rebounding the basketball. I’m extremely proud of their defense.”
BGHS trailed 6-5 after the opening quarter but played a dominant second – which included it outscoring South Warren 21-5 – to lead 26-11 at halftime. The Spartans put together a solid third and outscored the Lady Purples 14-6, but Bowling Green made key plays down the stretch to be victorious.
Keyozdon Jones led the way for the Lady Purples with 17 points, while Taylor Ragland finished with 9 and T’Alla Brown and Meadow Tisdale each added seven.
“It feels really good – especially with the group that we have right now,” Jones said. “We hadn’t won it since ’15.”
Lexi Button scored 13 points to lead South Warren (17-12).
Bowling Green – which is the defending champion – and South Warren now turn their attention to the Region 4 Tournament, which begins Tuesday at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena. The draw to determine the bracket will take place Saturday morning.
“Winning it again,” responded Jones when asked what the team’s mindset is entering next week. “That’s the mindset we’ve got. We’re taking it game-by-game.”
The two sides played a sluggish first quarter as only five total field goals were recorded and 11 points were put on the scoreboard.
South Warren jumped out to a 4-0 lead after a pair of scores from Taylor Enlow, but Bowling Green responded with a quick 5-0 run to jump in front 5-4 at the 1:33 mark. Button scored for the Spartans with 24.8 seconds left in the first to put them up 6-5 after one.
Bowling Green fired on all cylinders to begin the second, putting together an 8-0 run – which included back-to-back 3-pointers from Jones and Ragland – to take a 13-6 lead at the 6:44 mark.
Enlow’s bucket brought South Warren to within 13-8 – but just before the Lady Purples assembled another 8-0 run to push their advantage to 21-8 at the 2:37 mark. A triple from Jones soon after made it 24-8, and Bowling Green took a 26-11 lead into the break.
“That’s something we’ve talked about the entire year – just lead with defense,” Head said. “If we can defend and rebound, we can do some stuff in transition and kind of give us more opportunities to score the basketball. Again, extremely proud of their defensive effort, their defensive focus for 32 minutes.”
South Warren wasn’t giving up.
Opening the third quarter with three quick points, the Spartans cut their deficit to 26-14 at the 6:15 mark, and from straight points from Brooke Stevenson just over two minutes later made it 30-18 at the 4:04 mark.
Lexi Button’s 3 from the right wing, which followed a pair of free throws, brought South Warren within just seven at 30-23 at the 2:32 mark. A score from Jones just before the buzzer sent things into the fourth with Bowling Green leading 32-25.
“Our girls were fine early and then all of a sudden they turned it up to another gear and our girls just really weren’t ready for it,” South Warren coach Lane Embry said. “Partly my fought for not having more pressure on them in practice, and some of it is that we’ve gotta be able to step up and take care of the ball in situations like that, which we’ve done in the past. We just didn’t have it tonight.”
Baskets from Meadow Tisdale and Jones put the Lady Purples back up double digits at 36-25 at the 5:41 mark of the final period, but Enlow followed up with a score on the other end for South Warren to make it 36-27.
The Spartans got within 38-31 with a pair of Enlow free throws, but Tisdale completed an and-one on the next possession to put the Lady Purples up 43-31 and seal it and look ahead to next week’s regional tournament.
“It’s going to be tough. Next week starts Part Two,” said Head. “This was just kind of Part One. You’re kind of playing with house money tonight. I’m extremely happy that our seniors are able to recapitalize on getting the district championship, but now we’re going to Part Two of the season.”
Bowling Green – 5 21 6 12 — 44
South Warren – 6 5 14 9 — 34
BG –Jones 17, Ragland 9, Brown 7, Tisdale 7, Shelton 2, James 2.
SW – Button 13, Enlow 10, Stevenson 7, Pierce 2, Weaver 2.
