Jim Mashek

BOWLING GREEN BOWS OUT IN SEMIFINALS, 40-30; CAWTHORN DOMINATES AGAINST TROJANETTES

Calvin Head has built the Bowling Green High School girls basketball team around teamwork, commitment and tenacity.

Twelve months ago, the Lady Purples extended their impressive postseason run, striking for a 52-39 victory over KHSAA 4th Region favorite Franklin-Simpson in the tournament semifinals at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.

Within a few days, they were on their way to Lexington’s Rupp Arena, ready to compete in the KHSAA Sweet 16 for the fifth consecutive season.

Over the last three months, they’ve endured a topsy-turvy, challenging season. It started with senior point guard NaTaya Wardlow sustaining a torn ACL in the fourth game of regular-season play, a 58-19 rout of Glasgow High School at the BGHS Arena.

That injury would literally turn Bowling Green’s season upside down and Head, the Lady Purples’ veteran head coach, had to make some adjustments on the fly.

Head moved 6-foot senior wing Katy Smiley, a versatile player headed for Campbellsville University, to point guard, leaving little to no experience on the front line, and the Lady Purples labored through regular-season play, finishing with 11-16 record heading into the 14th District Tournament on Bowling Green’s home floor.

Bowling Green finished a 7-0 run through district play by turning back South Warren High School, 43-30, in the 14th District Tournament championship game, and the Lady Purples opened 4th Region play with a gritty 37-35 victory over Todd County Central.

That sent Bowling Green into Tuesday’s second semifinal game, a matchup with one of the region’s smaller schools, Metcalfe County. Metcalfe County is having one of the school’s banner seasons, and the Lady Hornets turned in a strong defensive effort to stop Bowling Green short of the KHSAA Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.

Metcalfe County’s Jozie Allen, playing through a torn left ACL, finished with a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds as the Lady Hornets eliminate Bowling Green, 40-30, at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.

BGHS closed the door on a challenging 13-17 season, with an eye cast toward the future, but for Metcalfe County and Franklin-Simpson, the future is now.

LaReesha Cawthorn, the two-time 4th Region Player of the Year, and Franklin-Simpson moved to within one victory of the 4th Region championship in the first game on Monday night, limiting Barren County to three points in the fourth quarter while pulling away for a workmanlike, 40-30 victory.

Cawthorn played nearly the entire game and led the way for the Lady ‘Cats, finishing with a game-high 17 points and 15 rebounds. She added four assists, four steals and one of Franklin-Simpson’s three blocked shots, and the Lady Wildcats limited Barren County to 33 percent shooting to move into the championship game.

“It’s win or go home,” Cawthorn said. “We’ve put our hearts into this … the coaches prepared us for this moment.”

Franklin-Simpson (27-2) will square off with Metcalfe County (27-5) in the KHSAA 4th Region championship game on Saturday night, after the WKU men’s basketball team concludes its regular season with a home game against Liberty University.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Calvin Head and Bowling Green, meanwhile, turn the page on the 2024-25 season, with an eye on the future, including a promising group of returning players for next season.

“We just couldn’t get into a good defensive rhythm, to try to keep us at bay,” Head said.

For Metcalfe County, it was a historic moment.

The Lady Hornets reached the 4th Region championship game for the first time since 1992, when Metcalfe coach Heidi Coleman was playing for her hometown school. Coleman jumped into the arms of senior guard Kassady London as the horn sounded, and the Lady Hornets found themselves on the doorstep toward a berth in next week’s KHSAA Sweet 16.

Heady stuff.

“It was the right kids, the right time, the right chemistry,” Coleman said. “This doesn’t happen for schools, our size, very often. It goes in waves. Maybe we will get an opportunity, sooner, than 33 years the next time.”

Calvin Head was joined at the podium by three BGHS seniors — Katy Smiley, NaTaya Wardlow and Ja’Tyiah Miley — and thanked them for their contributions to the program.

“These three seniors are pivotal to what we do, in our program,” Head said. “The toughness aspect. I just hope our younger kids learned a lot from them this year.”

FRANKLIN-SIMPSON 41, BARREN COUNTY 29

Franklin-Simpson’s LaReesha Cawthorn, the 6-foot senior headed for Tennessee Tech, picked up two quick personal fouls in Tuesday night’s semifinal game against Barren County.

She wouldn’t pick up her third foul until the issue had pretty much been decided, with the Lady Wildcats cruising with an eight-point lead in the final three minutes.

Besides, Franklin-Simpson’s defense allowed only three points in the final 13 minutes of the game. Barren County actually led, 19-18, at halftime, but the Trojanettes ran out of answers in the second half.

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

“The lights aren’t too bright … This team was prepared.”

Cawthorn did it all for the Lady ‘Cats.

The Franklin-Simpson star hit six of 12 shots to finish with a game-high 17 points and 15 rebounds. She added four assists, four steals and a blocked shot as the Lady Wildcats continued closing in on the 30-win barrier. Senior F-S point guard Vanessa Ray added 11 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Franklin-Simpson is one victory away from playing in the KHSAA Sweet 16.

“I’m glad to kind of, in a nice way, shut people up,” Franklin-Simpson guard Lyniah Brown said. “I feel like (critics) kind of always talk negatively about our team and stuff like that … There’s always those people who have to be different, and always have to try to get in our heads and stuff.

“I’m ready to just prove everybody wrong.”

The game was tied, at 26, when Franklin-Simpson’s Kloie Smith inbounded the ball to Cawthorn along the baseline, underneath Barren County’s basket in the final moments of the third quarter.

Cawthorn used a touch pass to get the ball right back to Smith, who scored on an easy basket to put the Lady Wildcats in front, 28-26.

Franklin-Simpson outscored Barren County 13-3 in the fourth quarter. Senior guard Vanessa Ray finished with 11 points, four rebounds and two steals. Franklin-Simpson DOMINATED on the boards, finishing with a staggering 36-15 rebounding advantage.

“We had some critical turnovers, and credit to Franklin-Simpson,” Barren County coach Piper Lindsey said. “Everybody knows they will pressure the heck out of you … You can’t start your offense at half-court, we weren’t strong with the basketball.

“We didn’t have enough in the tank. We were pretty tired.”

Franklin-Simpson needed two overtimes to knock of Barren County, 55=49, one month ago on the Trojanettes’ home floor in Glasgow. Barren County had won seven of nine games coming into the 4th Region tourney, including a 62-46 thumping of Warren East in the 15th District championship game.

Barren County couldn’t generate that kind of offensive attack this time. LaReesha Cawthorn and the Lady ‘Cats wouldn’t allow it.

“We just gutted it out,” Franklin-Simpson coach Ashley Taylor said. “We changed defenses a couple of times, we were subbing like crazy (late), offense for defense …

“They just found a way.”

Barren County finishes its season at 26-6.

METCALFE COUNTY 40, BOWLING GREEN 30

There were eight lead changes in this low-scoring game, and Bowling Green moved in front, 24-23, on Katy Smiley’s 3-pointer late in the third quarter. Smiley, the Lady Purples’ All-4th Region senior guard/forward, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, one of her favorite spots on the floor.

She wouldn’t score again the rest of the night.

Metcalfe County dug in on defense, moved the ball on offense, and seemed to value every possession. The Lady Purples took their final lead early in the fourth quarter, when BGHS sophomore guard Maddie Davenport found Zara Hall on an entry pass, and Hall’s layup gave Bowling Green a 28-27 lead.

The Lady Purples would score three points the rest of the game.

“I’m proud of our kids, for making it this far in the regional tournament,” BGHS coach Calvin Head said. “They fought to the end … we’re competitive, we never wanted it to end.”

Metcalfe County’s Jozie Allen continued to amaze, playing through a torn left ACL and leading the Lady Hornets with 17 points and nine rebounds. Kassady London and Lady Hornets teammate Lily Blythe both finished the game with eight points. The Lady Hornets, normally a strong 3-point shooting team, hit only 3 of 16 shots from beyond the line.

That’s 19 percent.

And yet they still won by double digits.

“Jozie Allen was a warrior out there for (Metcalfe County),” BGHS coach Calvin Head said.

Allen said, “I kind of had to block out the pain … I can’t feel anything (at the moment).”

It was an emotional moment for Katy Smiley, the Lady Purples’ senior guard/forward whose last two seasons ended at Lexington’s Rupp Arena in the KHSAA Sweet 16. Smiley is on her way to Campbellsville University, which competes in the NAIA Mid-South Conference, based in Bowling Green.

“I’m sad it’s over, obviously, but it’s been a blessing to play with the Lady Purples basketball team,” Smiley said.