CONNECTS ON A 3-POINTER
IN THE THIRD QUARTER.
GREENWOOD COACH TERRANCE WILLIAMS: ‘MOLLY’s A GAMER …’
South Warren High School’s girls basketball team did everything they could.
Man, zone, matchup zone. Half-court press. Double teams. You name it …
But Greenwood sophomore Molly Spidel was having none of it.
“They kind of left me open, on a few shots,” Spidel said after she struck for a career-high 35 points in the Lady Gators’ 58-40 victory over their crosstown rival on Nashville Road on Monday night at Warren Central High School. The impressive victory sends Greenwood to the KHSAA 14th District championship game for the first time since 2023.
The Lady Gators (15-15 overall) will be matched up against Bowling Green High School in Thursday night’s 14th District title game. The Lady Purples have won seven consecutive district championships and earned five consecutive trips to the KHSAA’s Sweet 16 in Lexington before falling short last year.
Regardless, both Bowling Green and Greenwood will be playing in next week’s KHSAA 4th Region Tournament at WKU’s historic E.A. Diddle Arena. Bowling Green (16-13 overall) will be looking to complete a three-game sweep of the Lady Gators, but Spidel and her teammates gave Calvin Head’s BGHS squad something to think about, over the next three days.
Bowling Green cruised into the championship game in the opener, building a 16-2 lead in the first quarter on its way tlo a 66-21 victory over Warren Central. The Lady Dragons finish their season at 5-25 overall, with all five of their victories against teams from outside the KHSAA’s 4th Region.
CHARTS A PLAY DURING A TIMEOUT.
PULLS AWAY ON THE FAST BREAK.
IS DOUBLE TEAMED ON THE BASELINE.
Bowling Green will be looking for a three-game sweep of the Lady Gators in Thursday’s title tilt. The Lady Purples have shown steady improvement over the course of the season and have compiled an 11-2 record against 4th Region opponents.
Likewise, in the 14th District, they’ve been challenged just once, in a low-scoring game against South Warren, in a mid-January game at the BGHS Arena.
They’ll wipe the slate clean before Thursday’s championship game. On Tuesday night, the No. 1 seed Warren Central boys will square off against archrival Bowling Green in the first game, followed by the second semifinal matching South Warren and Greenwood. The winning teams in both of those games will automatically qualify for the KHSAA 4th Region Tournament.
SCORED A CAREER-HGH 35 POINTS.
GREENWOOD 58, SOUTH WARREN 40
Terrance Williams, Greenwood’s third-year head coach, had a premonition before taking the team bus across town to tangle with South Warren.
“I watched so much film,” Williams said, “and the girls will tell you … We had the first three or four plays for Molly Spidel because I felt like we had a mismatch …
“They couldn’t guard her … She’s a gamer.”
Spidel, the sophomore swingman who doubles as an infielder for the top-flight Greenwood softball team, hit a series of 3-point shots in the first quarter, and never let up while scoring a career-high 35 points. The Lady Gators were tough on the offensive boards, too, which made South Warren’s assignment on defense that much tougher.
LEADS HER TEAM ON THE FAST BREAK.
AND HER GREENWOOD TEAMMATES
WILL PLAY FOR A DISTRICT TITLE.
“It was a great feeling to win and know we’re playing in the championship game,” Spidel said. “We have to work together; that’s the important thing. My teammates did a great job getting me the ball for some open looks.”
Spidel had plenty of help. Freshman point guard Anzlee Hendrix finished with nine points, including a nifty back-door layup while the Lady Gators were closing things out down the stretch. Molly Talley added eight points for Greenwood, which completed a three-game sweep over South Warren.
Junior center Averi Fugate led South Warren with 12 points and freshman guard JaNya Anderson added 10. The Spartans, a young squad with just two seniors, finish their season at 9-17 overall.
BY THE DAILY NEWS’ MICHEAL COMPTON.
PUT THIS ONE OUT OF REACH.
ITS 16th VICTORY AGAINST 13 DEFEATS.
BOWLING GREEN GIRLS 66, WARREN CENTRAL 21
The efficient, relentless Lady Purples were able to run away and hide in this one.
Bowling Green bolted to a 16-2 lead after the first quarter, and the Lady Dragons never really recovered.
It was 35-14 at halftime, as BGHS forward Amaya Brown and junior guard/forward Jooni Strow started to dominate inside. Brown, an eighth grader, was particularly impressive in the open court, and she led all scorers with 18 points.
Strow finished with 14 points and helped the Lady Purples control the boards.
Senior guard Myra Mayberry led Warren Central with 11 points, but the Lady Dragons were ineffective from 3-point range, getting the vast majority of their points near the basket.
Meanwhile, Bowling Green put nine players in the scoring column, a testament to depth the Lady Purples (16-13 overall) have built over the course of the season. Bowling Green’s Carli Smith, a freshman forward, came up with a steal near mid-court and scored in the final seconds of the first half, giving her team some momentum heading into the locker room.
Smith finished the game with eight points.
“We secured the No. 1 seed, that was important,” BGHS coach Calvin Head said. “The regular season took care of itself. We can just go out and play Thursday night, and see what happens …
“Amaya Brown has really grown. She’s maturing, starting to find a little groove. She’s improving.”
TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.
THE FAMOUS WWE WRESTLER,
WAS IN THE HOUSE MONDAY NIGHT …
FOR ITS FIRST DISTRICT TITLE
IN MORE THAN TWO DECADES.
PIPER’s USUALLY WORKING WITH AN AGENDA.