Lady Raiders hold on for first win over BG since 2008

Published 9:58 pm Saturday, December 14, 2024

by Micheal Compton

The Warren East girls’ basketball team found the perfect way to bounce back from its first loss of the season – end a long drought against a former District 14 rival.

Less than 24 hours after losing to Barren County, Warren East was able to outlast host Bowling Green 46-44 in the final game of Saturday’s Fourth Region State Farm Classic. Warren East (4-1) got big nights from Lawson sisters Kennedy and Madison and held off a late charge from the short-handed Lady Purples to earn Warren East’s first win against BG since Feb. 1, 2008.

“Bowling Green is a great team,” Warren East coach Jenny Neville said. “It was nice to come in here and play the way we did, especially after last night. It’s a great win against a top-notch program. The girls were able to bounce back and show what we had. We wanted to make sure to let everyone know that we’ve worked too hard to not come out here and give them a good game.”

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Both teams got off to slow starts in the first quarter, with Warren East holding a slim 7-6 advantage into the second.

The Lady Raiders got rolling behind the Lawsons. Kennedy hit a pair of 3s and Madison added a 3 that helped Warren East extend its lead to 20-11 late in the first half. BG was able to stem the tide slightly with Katy Smiley’s bucket trimming the deficit to 20-13 by halftime.

“I’m highly disappointed in our second quarter,” BG coach Calvin Head said. “I thought our will to fight and compete was lost. I think that was the difference in the game. You can’t do that against Warren East. They are very, very organized offensively. They get after you defensively. They really try to speed the game up and I thought they did that to us. I thought in the second quarter we got away from everything we wanted to do defensively. We lost the Lawsons multiple times and it killed us.

“My kids fought hard, but we can’t have those types of quarters.”

Warren East got the margin back to nine twice in the second half – the second time a bucket from Sam Carver that made the score 37-28 with 41 seconds left in the third quarter.

Bowling Green responded with nine straight – including six from Smiley – to tie the score 37-37 with 6:34 left. Two Madison Lawson free throws put the Lady Raiders back in front before Maddie Davenport’s 3 made the score 40-39 to give Bowling Green its first lead since the first quarter.

Warren East quickly regained the momentum to four free throws in 33 seconds to move ahead 43-40. Bowling Green would cut the lead to one on two occasions in the final two minutes – including a steal and layup from Smiley with 3.8 seconds remaining – but Madison Lawson hit two free throws and Davenport’s near three-quarter court heave as time expired came up short.

“I told them to be patient (and that they were) in control,” Neville said. “We are a veteran group. We can handle the pressure. (We told them) to take care of the ball and crash the boards. That was a big point for us tonight to crash the boards and get some rebounds because they are a great rebounding team.”

Kennedy Lawson led Warren East with 18 points, while Madison Lawson added 11 points.

“It’s huge,” Kennedy Lawson said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we just had to try our hardest. We knew we had to flip the switch (after Friday’s loss to Barren County) come out here and work hard to get the win.”

Smiley finished with a game-high 22 points for Bowling Green. The Lady Purples were down two starters with Emma Macy out due to an injury for Saturday’s game and senior point NaTaya Wardlow out for the season after suffering a knee injury on Monday.

“I thought they made winning plays down the stretch,” Head said. “I thought we were still on our heels a little bit. Some of it I think we got a little bright eyed with some inexperience, but we just have to make sure that we learn how to win those games and execute the things we are talking about in the huddle. … We have some pieces that we are trying to figure out how to put together.”

Both teams return to action at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Bowling Green will host Christian County while Warren East plays at Logan County.

WEHS 7 13 17 9 – 46

BGHS 6 7 18 13 – 44

WE – K. Lawson 18, M. Lawson 11, Wardlow 8, Carver 5, Brooks 2, Jones 2.

BG – Smiley 22, Davenport 9, Woods 5, Hall 4, Pruitt 2, Ware 2.

About Micheal Compton

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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