SCOTTSVILLE – It took until the final minute for Allen County-Scottsville to find the run it needed.

Mason Towery missed all five 3-point attempts until making the only one that mattered. Her triple with 40 seconds to play was the go-ahead score and Sarah Sutton’s three-point play capped the Lady Patriots’ 44-40 comeback win over Warren East on Tuesday.

Allen County-Scottsville (4-3) went on an 8-0 run in the final minute and held Warren East (1-7) to six points in the fourth quarter.

“Never seemed like we could do anything to get a lead and feel comfortable,” ACS coach Greg Dunn said. “We decided to full-court press and forced them a bit to get some turnovers, Mason hits a big 3 and that got us fired up and allowed us to hang on.”

Towery finished with 15 points on 7-of-18 shooting and five steals. Her last swipe came with less than 20 seconds left and allowed her to quickly get it to Sutton for the layup and the foul. Sutton’s free throw made it a four-point lead and Warren East didn’t take a shot on the last possession.

Sutton, the Murray State signee, led all scorers with 17 points and nine rebounds.

“Me and Mason got in foul trouble early and we knew toward the end of the game we were down one or two points and needed to pick it up,” Sutton said. “We pushed our team and got the job done.”

ACS has won three straight and four of its last five – the only loss in that stretch being a 68-67 defeat to Bowling Green in overtime.

The Lady Patriots are already down Allison Meador and Jaylee Woods with season-ending knee injuries and have since had concussions hinder playing time for Jae McReynolds and Kaylee Bullington.

“Was not a very pretty game overall, but I’ll take a win any time,” Dunn said. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity outside of the game. They played well and Warren East has a lot to be proud of.”

Needing six points to move into third on the ACS all-time scoring list, Sutton got four of those points from the free-throw line to help the Lady Patriots take a lead out of the first quarter. Sutton had the first four points and surpassed Stacey Felchner on the scoring list with two free throws seven minutes into the contest.

A 3-pointer from Kelsey Sparks kept Warren East close in a 13-9 game despite shooting 4-of-15 from the field in the first quarter.

The Lady Raiders defense held long enough for Katelyn Joiner’s layup to push them into the lead at 16-15 with 3:52 left in the half. Sparks hit another triple to make it a four-point game before the ACS rally.

Towery’s elbow jumper snapped a five-minute scoreless streak for the Lady Patriots. Grace Tuttle’s free throw tied the game at 23-all at halftime.

ACS led most of the third quarter, but Warren East kept it within two possessions. Sparks’ third 3-pointer of the game put Warren East in front 34-32 going into the fourth quarter.

Caroline Forrester pushed the Lady Raiders into a four-point lead midway through the quarter.

Chloe Cook scored off a steal to make it 40-38 with 1:30 to play. Teams exchanged turnovers before Warren East coach Orlando Hayden called timeout with 46.2 seconds remaining. The Lady Raiders turned the ball over against the press and ACS went on to victory.

Warren East entered Tuesday a day removed from its first win in a 42-41 triumph at Franklin-Simpson. Five of the Lady Raiders’ seven losses have come by single digits.

“Basically, we can’t take care of the ball,” Hayden said. “At the end of the game you’ve got a four-point lead with 40 seconds to go and you’re in the bonus, you have to take care of the ball. … A lot of games we’ve lost at the end we should’ve won. All these games we’ve been right there. Just a point of taking care of the ball and until we learn how to do that, we’re going to struggle.”

Lucy Patterson led Warren East with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. The Lady Raiders start a four-game homestand Saturday against Trigg County before hosting the Warren East Holiday Hoops Classic.

ACS travels to Barren County on Friday.

WEHS 9 14 11 6 – 40

ACHS 13 10 9 12 – 44

WEHS – Patterson 12, Sparks 11, Hymer 7, Bailey 4, Forrester 2, Price 2, Joiner 2.

ACS – Sutton 17, Towery 15, Cook 4, Carter 3, Bullington 2, Willoughby 2, Tuttle 1.

Boys

ACS 72, Warren East 54

Allen County-Scottsville ran the floor on Warren East, using a quick start to turn a 17-point lead at halftime into a 72-54 win over the Raiders on Tuesday.

The Patriots (5-0) are off to their best start since the 2008-09 season when they won their first 10 games. ACS has scored over 70 points in all five games with three wins over teams out of District 14.

Mason Shirley (17 points) led four Patriots in double figures.

“We just kept running, they weren’t getting back on defense and we were just getting easy layups,” Shirley said. “We always want to stay running. When we get them down, we want to keep them down.”

Jax Cooper had nine of his 13 points in the first half when the Patriots shot 51 percent from the floor. Bryce Carter hit a career-high 11 points and Brett Rippy poured in 10 points for ACS.

Shirley had five of the Patriots’ 22 assists that came off quick transition points. ACS took advantage of a poor shooting night by the Raiders (3-4) and turned missed 3-pointers into quick scores. The Patriots had a 45-30 edge on the glass and scored 34 of their points off layups.

“The key for us is they’re buying into our system and each other,” ACS coach Brad Bonds said. “We’re getting up and down the floor. We’re playing as fast as we can, but free. That’s the way they want to play and they’ve had a lot of success like that.”

ACS started fast and never let up.

A 7-1 run in the first quarter pushed the Patriots’ lead nearly to double digits and forced Warren East coach Brandon Combs into a timeout to sub a new lineup.

Jake Bow sparked a bit of life into the Raiders with a 3-pointer after the timeout, but ACS held a 23-13 lead after one quarter.

The Patriots turned that consistent pressure into a 42-25 lead at halftime. ACS shot an efficient 51 percent from the floor, while the Raiders shot 25 percent and 3-of-16 from behind the arc.

ACS kept that wide margin through the second half.

Warren East ended the night shooting 19-of-60 from the field with half of those shots coming behind the arc. The Raiders were 8-of-30 on 3-point range, led by three triples from Sam Wheeler (11 points).

Warren East finally has a break after playing five games the last four days.

“We’ve played more games than we’ve had time to practice in the last week and a half and here over the next few days, we’ll be able to get back in the gym and work on us,” Combs said. “We talked after the game and agreed we’ve not had a lot of gym time lately, so we’ve got to come and work on a few things. Still like my team. I think after Christmas we’ll give people some fits.”

WEHS 13 12 12 17 – 54

ACHS 23 19 12 18 – 72

WEHS – Wheeler 11, Maxey 6, Jones 6, Wallace 5, Barber 4, Carter 4, Vondracek 4, Blaine 4, Harrell 4, Wardlow 3, Doyle 3.

ACS – Shirley 17, Cooper 13, Carter 11, Rippy 10, Carver 7, Ward 4, Stamper 3, McIntyre 3, Smith 2, Ross 2.{&end}