Keyozdon Jones finished with a game-high 19 points and Taylor Ragland scored nine points and dished out six assists to lead the Bowling Green girls’ basketball team to a dominant 67-33 win over Russellville on Wednesday night in the Region 4 Tournament quarterfinals at E.A. Diddle Arena.
The District 14 champion and defending regional champion Lady Purples – who are now 25-7 on the season – built a lopsided 22-4 lead after the opening quarter and took a 43-13 advantage into the locker room at halftime. BGHS stretched its lead to 40 points in the third and cruised through the final period en route to the big victory.
“I thought defensively we did exactly what we wanted to do,” Bowling Green coach Calvin Head said. “We had really good energy and good focus. I think we forced 25 turnovers, and that allowed us to get into transition and get some easy buckets.”
Along with Jones and Ragland’s performances, T’Alla Brown and Saniyah Shelton each added 9 and 8 points, respectively, to round out the stat sheet. The Lady Purples shot 25-of-62 (40.3 percent) from the field while forcing Russellville into 25 turnovers and just 25.7 percent (9-of-35) shooting.
Brooklyn Ray paced the District 13 runner-up Lady Panthers (18-12) with 10 points in their season-ending defeat.
Bowling Green will now play Glasgow in Monday’s 7:45 p.m. semifinal. The Lady Purples and Lady Scotties met twice in the regular season, with BGHS winning both games by scores of 49-27 (Dec. 1) and 62-47 (Dec. 17).
“It’s gonna be tough, regardless of whether it’s Russell or Glasgow,” Head said. “It’s gonna be tough. It’s going to be a good basketball game. We’re taking it one game at a time, one day a time, so we’ll see who we’ve got and we’ll prepare and give it our best shot on Monday.”
RHS – 4 9 10 10 — 33
BGHS – 22 21 19 5 — 67
RHS – Ray 10, Collier 9, Whitescarver 5, Bowlen 4, Mason 4, Buchner 1.
BGHS – Jones 19, Brown 9, Ragland 9, Shelton 8, Tisdale 8, Jones 4, Gray 3, Gray 2, Owens 2, Patterson 2, Gurley 1.
Glasgow holds off Russell County for 43-35 win
The Glasgow girls’ basketball team was able to overcome a sloppy, inconsistent, offensive-lacking game and earn a hard fought 43-35 win over Russell County on Wednesday night in the Region 4 Tournament quarterfinals at E.A. Diddle Arena.
The Lady Scotties (21-9) – the District 15 runners-up – led 15-9 after the opening quarter and 25-13 at halftime but only managed to score four points in the third and had its lead cut to 29-22 entering the fourth.
Russell County battled throughout the final period and got within 29-26 at the 5:35 mark, but Glasgow was able to hold off the Lady Lakers and come out on top.
“That’s what tournament basketball’s about – you pull one out,” Glasgow coach Justin Stinson said. “It wasn’t pretty. We made a lot of mistakes down the stretch there, but tournament play is about survive and advance. It’s about grinding it out. It doesn’t have to be pretty. All we want to do is keep playing – and we were able to accomplish that today.”
Ashanti Gore led the way for the Lady Scotties with 13 points, while Amande Lee finished with 12 and KJ Hughes recorded a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Addison Loy scored 14 points to lead District 16 champion Russell County (18-14) in its season-ending defeat.
Glasgow will meet Bowling Green in Monday’s semifinal round at 7:45 p.m. The Lady Scotties and Lady Purples met twice in the regular season, with BGHS winning both games by scores of 49-27 (Dec. 1) and 62-47 (Dec. 17).
“They’re a good basketball team,” Stinson said of Bowling Green. “There’s no doubt about it. And we’re a good basketball team. We’ve played Bowling Green a lot in the regional tournament over the years. We’re two of the most tradition-rich basketball teams in the Fourth Region over the last 10, 12 years.
“We’re happy to be playing ‘em next week.”
GHS – 15 10 4 14 — 43
RCHS – 9 4 9 13 — 35
GHS – Gore 13, Lee 12, Hughes 10, Adwell 4, Bradley 2, Page 2.
RCHS – Loy 14, Elmore 9, Marcum 8, Bault 2, Preston 2.
