South Warren drops opener of First Bank Tournament to Crittenden County

Published 8:01 pm Friday, December 27, 2024

by Jeff Nations

The first win of the season remains elusive for the South Warren girls’ basketball team, which dropped the opener of the First Bank Tournament to Crittenden County 63-59 on Friday at South Warren High School.

South Warren (0-7) was unable to protect a fourth-quarter lead, allowing the Lady Rockets to steal the win late.

“Offensively we have come a long way,” South Warren coach Lane Embry said. “Defensively we have a long way to go. We are working on it and just trying to get there – little by little.”

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South Warren looked in control through three quarters after surviving an early Lady Rockets push, but an ice-cold fourth quarter sealed the Spartans’ fate.

Crittenden County (7-1) hit nine out of 15 shots in the first quarter, pushing out to a 23-17 advantage.

South Warren opened the second quarter with a 9-2 spurt with Jenna Lindsey’s steal and layup helping the Spartans briefly going in front 26-25. The Lady Rockets answered back with a 7-2 surge to regain the advantage. The Spartans were able to get within one, before a 3-pointer from Anna Boone made the score 37-33 at halftime.

McLaine Hudson and Jooniper Strow came out hot in the second half, with Strow’s 3 giving South Warren a 44-42 lead midway through the third quarter. The advantage grew to 53-47 late in the third before a steal and layup by Boone cut the deficit to 53-49.

Hudson’s drive to the basket gave the Spartans a 55-51 advantage with 6:24 remaining, but South Warren scored one point over the next six minutes allowing Crittenden County to surge in front for good.

A 7-0 spurt gave the Lady Rockets a 58-55 lead with five minutes left and Crittenden County sealed it with five free throws in the final minute – pushing the advantage to seven before a 3 from Strow with four seconds left allowed South Warren to inch a little closer in the final margin.

South Warren finished 2-for-10 shooting in the fourth quarter, including three missed layups with the game still in doubt.

“We missed a lot of shots,” Embry said. “It felt like we kept getting the shots we wanted. We just didn’t put them in. Sometimes that is the breaks. I told the girls that it really didn’t come down to that. It came down to giving up 37 points in the first half. That’s not going to work very often.”

Hudson led the way for the Spartans with a game-high 30 points. Strow added 13 points for South Warren.

Boone led Crittenden County with 24 points.

South Warren will continue pool play in the tournament on Saturday, facing South Oldham at 11 a.m. at the high school and Walton-Verona at 3:30 p.m. at the middle school.

The tournament wraps up with one game on Sunday.

“All you can do is pick yourself up off the mat and keep fighting,” Embry said. “I think our girls are ready to do that. They have good energy. I don’t think they are too discouraged. I think they understand we have played a lot of really good competition so far. They’ve played some good basketball games. Now it is about getting over that hump.”

CCHS 23 14 12 14 – 63

SWHS 17 16 20 6 – 59

CC – Boone 24, Hodge 17, Evans 11, Federico 6, Stewart 5.

SW – Hudson 30, Strow 13, Overbay 5, Calvert 5, Lindsey 4, Gatewood 2.

 

Owensboro 55, Glasgow 33

The Red Devils closed the first half with a 14-2 run and continued to pull away from there in the second half to down the Lady Scotties in the opening game of pool play in the First Bank Classic for both teams.

Glasgow (2-6) trailed 19-16 after a layup from Kerigan Hagan with 4:12 left in the half, but the Lady Scotties had one more field goal the remainder of the half. Owensboro took advantageM pushing its lead to 33-18 by halftime.

Owensboro continued to pull away as Glasgow was held to two points – no field goals – in the third quarter to push the margin 47-20.

Glasgow was unable to get closer than 19 the rest of the way.

Cynthia Austin led Glasgow with 10 points.

Glasgow will continue pool playing with two games on Saturday, both at South Warren High SchooL – facing Green County at 12:30 p.m. and Central Hardin at 5 p.m.

The Lady Scotties will wrap up play in the tournament on Sunday.

GHS 12 6 2 13 – 33

OHS 17 16 14 12 – 55

GHS – Austin 10, Goodman 5, Ke. Hagan 4, Ka. Hagan 3, England 3, Stephens 2, Lightfoot 2, Strode 2.

OHS – Carter-Swanagan 11, John 11, Sprinkles 10, Whitlock 8, Carbon 6, Harris 4, Sapp 4, Carothers 1.

About Jeff Nations

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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