Lady Cats’ defense locks down Barren County

Published 11:07 am Wednesday, March 5, 2025

By Micheal Compton

It was one of the most anticipated rematches of the postseason.

Barren County and Franklin-Simpson met in a classic double-overtime thriller won by the Lady Cats last month at Barren County, so expectations were high when the teams met again in Tuesday’s Region 4 semifinals at E.A. Diddle Arena.

While this rematch didn’t quite live up to the original, it was still a hotly contested battle with Franklin-Simpson using a strong late kick to pull away for a 41-29 win over the Trojanettes.

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Franklin-Simpson (27-2) outscored Barren County 19-3 over the final 13 minutes to break open a close battle and punch its ticket back to the region championship for the first time since 2022.

“I think that game went like people thought it would be,” Franklin-Simpson coach Ashley Taylor said. “That was a high level, physical, back-and-forth basketball game between two really good teams.”

Both defenses were locked in early, with LaReesha Cawthorn scoring all eight points to give Franklin-Simpson the early 8-5 advantage. Barren County (26-6) scored the next five to take the lead after one quarter and pushed the margin to 13-9 after a 3 from Adalynn Slagle.

The Lady Cats scored four straight to tie it, but were unable to get the lead — with Barren County holding a 19-18 advantage at halftime.

Shelby Byrd opened the third with a shot in the paint to make the score 21-18, before Franklin-Simpson scored the next four to go back in front for the first time since the first quarter.

A layup from Kaitlyn Elmore gave the lead back to the Trojanettes eight seconds later and a 3 from Mahalia Burton made the score 26-22 with 5:04 left in the third. That would be Barren County’s last made field goal of the night.

Franklin-Simpson was able to score a couple of baskets to pull even, then took the lead on the final play of the third quarter — with Kloie Smith passing the ball in to Cawthorn under the basket and Cawthorn giving it back to Smith for a wide-open layup that made the score 28-26.

“It’s always open,” Cawthorn said. “We’ve always talked about it during practice, get the ball in and go right back to the person (that inbounded the ball). We tell them when you are out of bounds step in because if I get the ball I am always gonna draw two, three or four, so I know the person coming inbounds is going to be open. I knew Khloie and I know she reads my mind on the court. As soon as I got it, I knew she was going to be there. Hit her. Bucket.”

Franklin-Simpson pulled away in the fourth, limiting the Trojanettes to three free throws. The Lady Cats were 4-for-7 from the field and 5-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final period — leading by as many as 13 points.

“To be honest with you, we gutted it out,” Taylor said. “We changed defenses a couple of different times. We were subbing like crazy — offense for defense — and they just found a way.”

Cawthorn finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds, while Vanessa Ray added 11 points.

Franklin-Simpson will be looking for its first region title since 2009 when it faces Metcalfe County at 7 p.m. on Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

The Lady Cats are back in the title game after disappointing finishes the last two seasons. Franklin-Simpson was upset in the first round of the District 13 Tournament in 2023 and lost to Bowling Green in the region semifinals last year.

“It feels great,” Franklin’s Lyniah Brown said. “I’m glad to kind of, in a nice way, shut people up. I feel like they kind of always talk negatively about our team and stuff like that. Even though I feel like we’ve always done good. We’ve always developed, but there’s always those people who have to be different and always have to try and get in our heads and stuff. I’m ready to just prove everybody wrong.”

Byrd, Burton and Slagle had seven points each to lead Barren County in scoring.

“They never gave up,” Barren County coach Piper Lindsey said. “It just stings. It sucks. I wasn’t prepared for this, to be quite honest. We believed in ourselves and I feel like that’s half the battle. These girls fought tooth and nail until the very end. These two seniors are going to be missed. I feel like the ball kind of bounced the wrong way at times. We had some critical turnovers and credit to Franklin-Simpson. Everybody knows they will pressure the heck out of you. That program has been the same way, heck since I was in high school.”

FSHS 8 10 10 13 — 41

BCHS 10 9 7 3 — 29

FS –– Cawthorn 17, Ray 11, Smith 8, Brown 2, Downey 2, Nolan 1.

BC — Burton 7, Byrd 7, Slagle 7, Elmore 4, Gearlds 4.

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

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