HAD A HOT HAND IN THE THIRD QUARTER.
KADE UNSELD, OTHER WARREN CENTRAL SENIORS HONORED BEFORE GAME; SOUTH WARREN GIRLS PREVAIL, 52-34
They’ve had to mix and match, coax and prod, and, back in December, wait for the cavalry with Warren Central High School boys basketball.
It’s been a tedious process, for the defending KHSAA Sweet 16 state champion, but the progress has been there.
It won’t show up in the win-loss record, not right now, anyway, but Senior Night at Warren Central on Friday night was still a special occasion.
School officials honored winter sports athletes — boys and girls basketball, as well as senior wrestler Blake Harrison — before Friday night’s double-header between Warren Central and visiting South Warren High School.
SCORES AGAINST WARREN CENTRAL.
AND HIS SON, WKU SIGNEE KADE UNSELD.
GRABS A THIRD-QUARTER REBOUND.
Sophomore guard McLaine Hudson scored 15 points and senior center Grace Maxwell added 14 as South Warren knocked off Warren Central, 52-34, in the girls game, before Kade Unseld and the Dragons’ boys squad put on a show in a resounding 84-53 victory over the visiting Spartans.
Warren Central’s boys squad (8-7 overall, 4-1 in the KHSAA’s 14th District) will face Elizabethtown High School in the final game of the Wes Strader Schoolboy Classic at WCHS on Saturday afternoon, after highly anticipated matchups between second-ranked Lyon County (20-3 overall) and Central Hardin (11-7), set for noon Saturday, and Louisville’s St. Xavier High School (19-3) and Owensboro Catholic (14-5).
CADIN HAMMER (LEFT)
AND KADE UNSELD.
THREE 3-POINTERS, INCLUDING THIS ONE
FROM THE PARKING LOT, IN THE THIRD QUARTER.
WARREN CENTRAL BOYS 84, SOUTH WARREN 53
After a competitive first half, Warren Central took control with a third-quarter onslaught that was too much for the Spartans to overcome.
Warren Central outscored South Warren, 29-13, over the critical third quarter, with senior forward Drevin Bratton exploding for 29 points while leading four Dragons players in double figures.
Cadin Hammer, the undersized WCHS point guard who has been groomed as Iziyah Villafuerte’s successor over the previous two seasons, found his shot from 3-point range and finished the game with a career-high 19 points. Kade Unseld, the WCHS senior swingman headed for Western Kentucky University, had 16 points and 6-foot-7 forward Elijah Starks, yet another Warren Central senior, added 14.
IS SHOOTING 61 PERCENT FROM THE FIELD.
IS EFFECTIVE NEAR THE BASKET, TOO.
FINISHED THE GAME WITH 16 POINTS.
Bratton’s inside game gives the Spartans a lot of possibilities on the perimeter, and Starks, a transfer from Bowling Green High School, also is strong near the basket. Hammer’s transition 3-point field goal got the Dragons off to the races in the third quarter, and he added two more 3-pointers, along with a steal and a layup, before the Spartans could stop the bleeding.
Hammer added a late 3 in the final moments of the third quarter, and he was sporting a big smile when the game was over, and the Dragons were visiting with their fans.
“We started off the season with five losses, so it’s been a grind,” Hammer said. “We started to find our chemistry, after Kade came back (from offseason meniscus surgery). We’re still nowhere near what we CAN be … we’ve just got to keep working, keep building on the chemistry.”
Bratton’s inside game helped the Dragons establish themselves at the 3-point line, and Starks believes they’re starting to find themselves under the opponent’s basket. Midway through the third quarter, Kade Unseld hit three 3-pointers in succession — the last one from about 35 feet out — as the Warren Central home crowd roared its approval.
“We took so many losses early,” Starks said. “The guys kept fighting, they kept competing. I give it to them. We’re going to keep getting better. When you have as many weapons as we do, it doesn’t matter who’s scoring, as long as the ball falls through the net.”
Veteran Warren Central coach William Unseld will tell you that, too, but he wouldn’t mind his son, Kade Unseld, taking more shots from the perimeter. That’s where Kade Unseld was particularly effective last season, when Warren Central went 34-1 while winning the second KHSAA Sweet 16 state title in school history.
“We need Kade shooting the ball,” William Unseld said. “It’s starting to come together at the right time. I think we’ll peak at the right time. Kade’s getting more minutes (after the surgery), and it’s good to have him on the floor.
“We’re a lot better team when he’s playing.”
AND THE SPARTANS WAIT TO TAKE THE FLOOR.
DURING THE SENIOR NIGHT PRESENTATION.
TANGLE WITH ELIZABETHTOWN HIGH SCHOOL
ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
Junior South Warren forward Bryce Button led the Spartans with 13 points and teammate Drew Hudson finished with 13. Second-year South coach Carlos Quarles was impressed with what Warren Central did in the third quarter, but he sees steady progress from the Spartans, too.
“That third quarter was kind of an avalanche,” Quarles said. “They got going … I think the hit eight 3s in that quarter. The rim got big for them. I’m proud of our guys, the way they fought. We’ve just got to keep working.”
SOUTH WARREN GIRLS 52, WARREN CENTRAL 34
HAS WON FIVE OF ITS LAST SIX GAMES.
South Warren’s girls squad stayed comfortably in front of homestanding Warren Central, although senior center Jaliyah Bailey was an inside force, leading all scorers with 18 points.
Sophomore guard McLaine Hudson, a veteran varsity player since her middle school days, led the Spartans with 15 points, while senior center Grace Maxwell added 14. Jooniper Strow, an eighth grader, finished with 12 points, and senior guard Abigail Overbay was next with eight.
South Warren (10-10 overall, 3-2 in the KHSAA’s 14th District) is on the road to tangle with Russellville High School (1-18) on Tuesday night, while the Lady Dragons (3-15, 0-5) will play host the same night to a talented Warren East squad (18-2, 5-1 in the KHSAA’s 15th District).
The Warren Central boys will face the 3rd Region’s Butler County squad in the nightcap on Tuesday. Butler County (13-6 overall) is led by former South Warren star Ty Price, who averages 28 points per game.
WERE HONORED BETWEEN FRIDAY’s GAMES.
A WAY OF GETTIN’ WHAT SHE WANTS?
“SEINFELD” FAME WOULD SAY, “SIGNS POINT TO YES …”