Lady Raiders shoot over ACS zone for 71-47 win

Published 10:37 am Tuesday, February 25, 2025

By Jeff Nations

GLASGOW – Allen County-Scottsville made Warren East prove it could shoot in Monday’s District 15 Girls’ Basketball Tournament semifinals at Barren County High School.

The Lady Patriots came out with a zone defense intent on clogging up the interior and limiting easy baskets, but the Lady Raiders had an answer for that with 11 made 3-pointers on the way to a 71-47 victory.

The win puts Warren East (19-6) back in the district championship, where Barren County awaits in Thursday’s 6 p.m. championship at Barren.

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To get back to the championship, the Lady Raiders had to make shots against that ACS zone. That was not a problem in the first quarter, as East buried five 3-pointers in the first eight minutes. Kennedy Lawson (13 points) and Sam Carver (team-high 17 points) buried the other two in a frenetic start.

“It was very fast and you’ve just got to get the shot off quick, but when I got two fouls I knew that somebody else would step up,” Kennedy Lawson said.

ACS (15-13) took every opportunity to push the pace and were still within three at 17-14 after the first quarter. A 3-pointer from Aubrie Naiser tied the game at 17-all, but East pushed back out front with a 6-0 run.

It was still a four-point game after ACS’s Debora Patrick scored in the paint, but Lydia Jones sank a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left in the half to stake the Lady Raiders to a 30-23 lead.

A three-point play by Avery Morris (game-high 18 points) got the Lady Patriots back within four to start the second half, but East answer with a devastating 10-0 run – featuring back-to-back 3s from Madison Lawson and Jones – to take a 40-26 lead with 4:51 left in the third.

ACS closed the gap to nine with a five-point run late in the third before Brooklyn Neville scored on a press-break layup to end the quarter.

Carver put the the game away in the fourth with eight straight points to open the period – a 3-pointer, a tip-in, a free throw and a basket on a drive to the goal. The senior added six assists in the win to lead the team, with tallied 17.

“We always love playing fast and that’s one thing teams do is they like to slow us down and that does hurt us,” Carver said. “But we are a fast-paced team and that’s the way we like to play because we all pass and we all have our share of assists.”

Lydia Jones tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter, and Madison Lawson added 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Lady Raiders held their own in rebounding, with the bigger Lady Patriots holding a 39-33 advantage.

“We’re not very big, but we definitely practice crashing the boards and boxing out and try to use our athleticism,” Warren East coach Jenny Neville said.

Patrick notched a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds and Naiser had 11 points for the Lady Patriots.

Neville said her team is will be ready for another shot at Barren County on Thursday. The Trojanettes won both regular-season matchups.

“Barren’s a tough team and we accept the challenge and we look forward to it,” Neville said. “The first two meetings this year were really competitive games and we’ve got a couple days to go in preparing for them, and hopefully coming and giving them a really good game and coming away with a championship.”

ACSHS 14 9 13 11 – 47

WEHS – 17 13 17 24 – 71

ACSHS – Morris 18, Patrick 12, Naiser 11, Roy 4, Marr 2.

WEHS – Carver 17, K. Lawson 13, M. Lawson 12, L. Jones 10, Wardlow 6, B. Neville 5, Brooks 4, Collins 4.

Barren County 73, Glasgow 38

Host Barren County broke open what had been a competitive game against crosstown rival in the second half to claim a 73-38 win and secure a spot in Thursday’s district championship.

Barren County (24-5) led just 36-30 at halftime, but used a 10-0 run to open the third to pull away – and kept extending the lead from there.

The Trojanettes led 53-36 by the end of the quarter, then put together a 20-0 run in the fourth.

“We had to adjust our defense,” Barren County sophomore Shelby Byrd said. “We needed to apply more pressure to them. That’s what we did. We tried to guard the 3-point line better.”

Byrd finished with a game-high 16 points and added five steals – Barren County had 14 in all – seven rebounds and four blocks.

Kaitlyn Elmore added 13 points, Addy Slagle had 11 points and Mahalia Burton tallied 10 points for the Trojanettes.

Cynthia Austin had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Glasgow (4-23). Reece England chipped in with 12 points for the Lady Scotties, who were held to just eight points in the second half.

GHS 17 13 6 2 – 38

BCHS 18 18 17 20 – 73

GHS – Austin 15, England 12, Kirkpatrick 6, Goodman 5.

BCHS – Byrd 16, Elmore 13, Slagle 11, Burton 10, Atkinson 7, McFall 6, Gearlds 5, Bragg 2, Mullins 2, R. Wilson 1.

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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