East starts season strong

Central boys dominate Raiders from tip-to-finish

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

The Warren East girls team had won only one District 14 game over the past two seasons, but the Lady Raiders began this years district play with a strong statement.

East never trailed after the first minute of play and handled defending district champion Warren Central 77-67 on Tuesday at Raider Gym.

I hope this proves to our kids we can play with anybody on our schedule, East coach Angie Anderson said. Thats what we had tonight that we didnt have last year, that belief that we can win.

Unlike the past few seasons when East has dealt with inexperience, the Lady Raiders now have five seniors. That experience took over in the fourth quarter.

East took its 54-51 lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter and ballooned it to 63-53 in only a minute of play. Guard Keshia Forrest scored five consecutive points, including a 3-pointer with 6:33 left in the game.

Forrest finished with a game-high 25 points and six rebounds.

Its kind of like we just knew what to do now, Forrest said. We know we have a good team and just had to play that way.

Forrest was only part of an offensive onslaught that Central had trouble stopping. Three other Lady Raiders also finished in double figures Andrea Moore with 13 points, Rachel Swisher and Amber Sparks with 11.

All four players scored in the fourth quarter when Central tried to come back from an East lead that was as big as 12 points.

Forrest is a great player and the other players have stepped up for them, Central coach Todd Steward said. Theyre a hard team to defend because of the number of people they have that can score.

Centrals Tanisha Morrow did finish with an impressive double-double of 18 points and 21 rebounds. Yet the Lady Dragons lost their third consecutive game and remain winless on the season.

The Lady Dragons are now playing without former Kentucky High School All-Star guard Aaron Richmond, who is playing at the University of Toledo, but Central does have backcourt experience returning with Diondra Anthony, who had 15 points. Heather Martin added 12 and Shakera Brooks finished with 11.

Central fell behind by as many as 14 at 33-19 in the second quarter before making a 16-4 run after Brooks hit a 3-pointer with two minutes remaining in the half. But Central never pulled even with East.

Basically I thought the East kids wanted it more than we did, and that really bothers me, Steward said. It didnt matter what we ran or what we tried to do. We didnt execute.

East saw its 14-point lead drop to 40-37 at halftime, but the Lady Raiders scored 10 of the first 12 points in the fourth quarter and held Central to only two points over the first five minutes of the second half.

When the going got tough, the seniors calmed everybody down, Anderson said. They hit some big shots and made some big steals. Its nice to have a group thats played three or four years.

East (2-1, 1-0 District 14) returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Meade County. Central (0-3, 0-1) hosts Russellville on Monday.

Warren Central 16 21 12 18 – 67

Warren East 21 19 14 23 – 77

Warren Central (67) Morrow 18, Anthony 15, Martin 12, Brooks 11, Price 6, Cowles 4, Napier 1

Warren East (77) Forrest 25, Moore 13, Sparks 11, Swisher 11, Smith 7, Marcrum 6, Crabtree 4

Warren Central 102, Warren East 40 (boys)

There are some new faces, but it was the same script on Tuesday. Defending state champion Warren Central blitzed East with a 61-9 run to open the game and cruised to a 102-40 win over the Raiders.

Central defeated East by 56 and 49 points last season. The Dragons, who are replacing four starters from last years team, were led by Jeremy Anderson, who finished with 28 points. Nick Britt added 21 and Troy McFarland added 17.

I was very pleased with our effort, Central coach Tim Riley said. Defensively we gave everybody a little idea of how quick were going to be.

It marked the home debut of first-year coach Russell Malone, who has gone through a rigorous schedule to begin the year. Along with facing Central on Tuesday, the Raiders have visited always-challenging Monroe County and Third Region power Daviess County.

East had only one field goal over the games first 15 minutes before scoring the final six points of the second quarter. Shawn Golliday led the Raiders with 10 points.

Tonights game was a rite of passage, Malone said. Weve got to go through games like this in order to get where (Central) is going. We take it like men and go back to work.

I was proud of them because they fought hard from start to finish. We just got beat by a better team. Theres nothing we could do to combat that.

Central (1-1 overall, 1-0 District 14) returns to action on Friday against Scott County in the Rick Bolus Shootout at Bellarmine University. East (0-3, 0-1) visits Greenwood on Dec. 17.

Warren Central 34 34 24 10 – 102

Warren East 4 16 10 10 – 40

Warren Central (102) Anderson 28, Britt 21, McFarland 17, Woodard 9, Hall 8, Hudson 6, Smith 6, Hood 3, Curry 2, Driver 2

Warren East (40) Golliday 10, Atchley 6, Benson 4, Ray 4, Shobe 4, Fox 4, Gosnell 3, Kirk 2, Dye 2, Pearson 1  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700