Trailing 50-37 with just 5:32 remaining in the Girls’ Region 4 Tournament championship on Saturday evening at E.A. Diddle Arena, Bowling Green did the unimaginable.
Instead of losing hope and giving up, the Lady Purples completely took control of the game and went on a commanding 22-1 run to steal all of South Warren’s momentum and earn a hard-fought 59-51 win to capture their third region title in the past four seasons.
It’s still all a blur to Bowling Green (20-12), which lost three times to the Spartans before finally recording a win over them on Saturday.
“It happened quick. I just reminded them that we’ve been here before and to just keep fighting and keep battling and it’s not over,” first-year Bowling Green coach Calvin Head said. “For us to go on a 22-1 run in that stretch, I’m still trying to process it all. I am so extremely proud of their fight and their resilience.
“They didn’t give up. They dug deep. Here we are cutting down the nets.”
Bowling Green opened the game by scoring the first five points and led 16-10 after the opening quarter before holding a slim 26-23 lead at halftime. It was in the third quarter that South Warren (31-4) outscored the Lady Purples 22-9 to build a 45-35 advantage entering the fourth.
That’s when BG put together the unbelievable run, took a lead and never looked back.
“There’s no words for it, honestly,” Bowling Green senior guard/forward Keely Morrow said. “Coach Head really got in us and told us to finish it out. We didn’t want to go down like that. We’ve been doubted all year, so I think we had a fire in our hearts – and we came through and won.”
Morrow led the Lady Purples with a game-high 21 points to go along with nine rebounds, while Shalyn Whitson finished with 13 points and T’Alla Brown scored 12. Bowling Green shot 21-of-55 from the field – including a 63.6 percent showing in the fourth quarter – and forced the Spartans into 13 turnovers.
With their win, the Lady Purples will now meet Region 5 champion Elizabethtown (33-2) at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round of the 2018 St. Elizabeth Healthcare/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet Sixteen at Northern Kentucky University’s BB&T Arena.
“It means a whole lot because we’ve been doubted the whole entire season. Nobody thought we would make it out of district and actually win region,” Bowling Green junior guard Taylor Ragland said. “South Warren beat us three times and it took us this one time to beat them. Now, we’re region champs.
“We’re just happy.”
Bowling Green carried most of the momentum early.
The Lady Purples started hot and jumped out to a 5-0 lead before South Warren answered with a quick 7-0 run to go up 7-5 at the 4:08 mark of the first quarter. Ragland made a three-pointer and Brown scored inside to put Bowling Green back in front at 10-7.
From there, the Lady Purples scored six of the final nine points – including the last four – of the period and led 16-10 after one.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries, sicknesses … we’ve been through a lot this year,” Morrow said. “I think as a team that made us closer together and made us a stronger team and brought us together for this big win tonight.”
South Warren wasn’t going anywhere, though.
Once trailing 24-13 at the 4:18 mark of the second, the Spartans fought back and closed the period with a momentum-swinging 10-2 run to trail just 26-23 at halftime.
10 points from Amaya Lasley in the third quarter – and a 13-0 run – gave South Warren a 42-30 lead with 1:16 remaining in the third quarter. It then led 45-35 entering the fourth.
“Bowling Green was definitely the better team in the fourth quarter,” Spartans’ coach Blane Embry said. “I felt like we rallied back from nothing going our direction early in the game to being composed and being mature and coming back and taking a lead.
“Then we just got back to getting in a hurry again and we just made too many turnovers.”
Once leading 50-37 with just over five minutes left, South Warren quickly watched its advantage slip away.
Five straight points by Morrow cut Bowling Green’s deficit to 50-44, and it was soon tied at 50-all. Back-to-back baskets by Brown pushed the Lady Purples’ lead to 54-50 before Morrow knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the miraculous comeback.
Lasley led the Spartans with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds in her final high school game, while Natalie Pierce scored eight points and Jordan McDonald and Taylor Enlow each finished with seven.
As South Warren’s outstanding season ends, Bowling Green’s is extending.
“Look at us now,” said Head. “We’re playing our best basketball at the best time of the year. I’m extremely proud of ‘em.”
–Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TMansfieldST.–
