Cawthorn leads Lady Cats to comeback win against Logan County

Published 10:35 am Saturday, February 15, 2025

By Micheal Compton

FRANKLIN — For almost three quarters, it wasn’t going well for the Franklin-Simpson girls’ basketball team in Friday’s matchup with District 13 rival Logan County.

The Lady Cats were struggling to make shots and were on the ropes, with Logan County building a nine-point advantage.

That’s when Franklin-Simpson’s Miss Basketball candidate LaReesha Cawthorn took over.

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Cawthorn scored 20 straight points for Franklin-Simpson, leading the charge in a hotly contested 45-42 comeback win over the Lady Cougars at Franklin-Simpson High School. Already locked into the No. 1 seed in the District 13 Tournament, which the Lady Cats will host, Franklin-Simpson (22-2 overall, 6-0 District 13) wrapped up a perfect regular season in district play and earned a second down-to-the-wire, hard-fought win against a Region 4 opponent in the last 10 days.

“This is the time you want to be clicking,” Franklin-Simpson coach Ashley Taylor said. “I’m not upset that we are in a close game. I am more upset with us for not executing. The close games are good for us. Learning to win, learning to not play well and still (that’s good for us), but you can’t rely on that. You have to rely on what you do and you do it well. That’s kind of what we want to spend this last week really drilling home.”

Franklin-Simpson got off to a quick start, jumping in front 9-0, but the offense stalled from there — allowing Logan County (14-13, 3-3) to steadily chip away.

The Lady Cougars scored four points in the final minute of the first quarter to make the score 9-4. After Franklin-Simpson opened the second with two Cawthorn free throws, Logan County scored six straight to pull within a point.

Franklin-Simpson stretched its lead back out to 15-10, but Logan County closed the half with five points from Alissa Hampton to tie the score 15-all at the break.

The Lady Cats shot 14% in the first half, with only four made field goals.

“Shout out to Logan County, I thought they came in and really got aggressive,” Taylor said. “I thought they were aggressive and physical with it and we kind of fumbled with it. I think shooting the 14% is we were wishing it in there, instead of executing. And then it kind of transferred down to the defensive end.”

Kloie Smith opened the second half with a shot in the paint to briefly give the lead back to the Lady Cats before Logan County answered with 11 straight points — the final points a steal and layup from TaKyiah Mason that made the score 26-17 with 3:22 left in the third quarter.

Thirteen seconds later, Cawthorn connected on her first made field goal of the night — starting a stretch of 20 straight points the senior scored for Franklin-Simpson over the next eight minutes.

She scored 11 in the final three minutes of the third quarter to trim the deficit to 31-28. Logan County got the lead back up to 35-30 with 6:02 remaining before Cawthorn scored seven unanswered, including a layup off a steal that gave Franklin-Simpson a 37-35 lead with 4:45 remaining.

“I think in the second half the middle was kind of more open,” Cawthorn said. “My coaches told me that they were going to be physical with me, but the only thing to do was be physical with them. That’s what I had to do and I think that’s what actually helped me.”

Franklin-Simpson got the lead up to 41-35, but five straight from Kyla Bilyeu cut the margin back down to one. Two Cawthorn free throws and a layup from Vanessa Ray made the score 45-40 in the final minute.

Logan County made one final push — with a layup from Brenley Adler with 30 seconds left. The Lady Cougars had a chance to force overtime, but Adler’s 3-pointer at the horn was wide left, allowing Franklin-Simpson to hold on for the win.

Cawthorn led Franklin-Simpson with 28 points and 15 rebounds. The senior was 16-for-19 from the free-throw line, including 9-for-9 in the fourth quarter.

“She’s just a kid that is going to do whatever we need her to do to win.” Taylor said. “We needed them tonight.”

Mason led Logan County with 12 points, while Adler added 10 points and seven rebounds.

“The first four minutes they went up 9-0 and I thought here we go, but the girls settled in,” Logan County coach Dedra Adler said. “They did a lot of things right. We really stayed disciplined. I thought the girls did a good job overall as a team, but in those clutch moments — they have got a team that is experienced and we just don’t.

“I was really proud of them. I thought they did a lot of great things. I thought it was an extremely physical ballgame and we just didn’t tuck tail. That’s what I want from them.”

Logan County hosts Butler County at 6 p.m. on Monday. Franklin-Simpson hosts Warren East at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

LCHS 4 11 16 11 — 42

FSHS 9 6 13 17 — 45

LC — Mason 12, Adler 10, Bilyeu 9, Hampton 7, Wetton 3, Holiday 1.

FS — Cawthorn 28, Ray 6, Smith 4, Savage 3, Nolan 2, Butler 2.

BOYS

Franklin-Simpson 69, Logan County 62

The Wildcats lost a lead in the fourth before closing with a 10-2 run to earn a split in the season series against Logan County.

Both teams finish 5-1 in district play, but Logan County will be the top seed by virtue of the higher overall RPI.

“It was a great win,” Franklin-Simpson sophomore Brody McAlister said. “We came out ready to play. When they got that lead, we didn’t give up. We just kept our heads straight and played hard and never gave up. It was a really good win tonight.”

Franklin-Simpson (8-13 overall, 5-1 District 13) took a 24-17 lead early in the second quarter and continued to keep the Cougars at a distance until the final period.

The Wildcats led by as many as 10 in the first half, with Logan County (16-10, 5-1) cutting that lead down to 40-36 by halftime.

Franklin’s lead was 57-50 heading into the fourth when the Cougars used a 10-2 run to take the first lead of the night since the first quarter — with two Samson Hightower free throws making the score 60-59 with 4:47 remaining.

McAlister scored four straight for the Wildcats, starting an 8-0 surge that put Franklin-Simpson in front for good. Logan County got it down to five with 32.7 seconds remaining, but was unable to get any closer.

“The main thing we wanted to do was protect home court,” Franklin-Simpson coach Dee Spencer said. “We will worry about that when we get there. We’ve got a long way to go before we get there. If you look ahead, then the same thing that happened to us last year (when Franklin lost in the opening round of the district could happen), so we have to focus on one game at a time. When that time comes, we will be ready.”

McAlister led Franklin-Simpson with 17 points, while Jakai Partinger added 16 points.

Hightower had a game-high 20 points for Logan County, while Davis Switzer added 15 points.

Logan County hosts Fort Campbell at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Franklin-Simpson hosts Warren East at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

LCHS 17 19 14 12 — 62

FSHS 21 19 17 12 — 69

LC — Hightower 20, Switzer 15, Johnson 7, Blann 6, Tichenor 4, Hinton 4, Sells 3, Thomas 3.

FS — McAlister 17, Partinger 16, Ray 9, Sharer 9, Brooks 7, Johnson 6, Hampton 5.

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

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