TOOK CONTROL AGAINST AVERY MORRIS
AND AC-S IN THE FIRST QUARTER.
TROJANETTES EARN 31st VICTORY AGAINST TWO DEFEATS; MONROE COUNTY BOWS OUT WITH 21-10 RECORD
The drama was building, long before Franklin-Simpson High School’s talented girls basketball team took the floor against KHSAA 4th Region Player of the Year Avery Morris and the Lady Patriots from Allen County-Scottsville on Friday night.
The Lady Cats, looking to repeat as 4th Region champions, had a tall task in front of them. Allen County-Scottsville isn’t a particularly deep team, but the Lady Patriots are efficient, offensively, and they’ll mix it up on the defensive end of the floor, too.
Barren County High School, looking to get back to the KHSAA Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019, squared off against Monroe County in the first 4th Region semifinal on Friday at WKU’s historic E.A. Diddle Arena. The Trojanettes limited Monroe County to 24.4 percent shooting, cruising to a 45-25 victory over the Lady Falcons to get to Saturday night’s championship game.
Barren County coach Piper Lindsey and her squad found a spot in the bleachers, to get a glimpse at their next opponent. And the Trojanettes watched a command performance, Franklin-Simpson’s 74-51 rout of the Lady Patriots to create an intriguing matchup for Saturday night’s championship game, a few hours after the WKU women’s team closes the books on its 2025-26 season at Diddle Arena.
The place figures to be packed.
It certainly was on Friday night.
“We told the girls only 32 teams are still playing in the state of Kentucky,” Franklin-Simpson coach Ashley Taylor said in the postgame press conference. “Tomorrow, it’ll be 16 …”
Two Sweet 16 berths will be determined on Sunday, but Taylor made a resonating point.
CONTROLS THE OPENING TIP-OFF.
LOOKS TO GENERATE THE FAST BREAK.
AND HER SQUAD ARE LOOKING FOR
THEIR FIRST SWEET 16 TRIP SINCE 2019.
LOOKS FOR A TEAMMATE INSIDE AGAINST AC-S.
Barren County and Franklin-Simpson will be playing for the third time this season, splitting the previous two games.
But Saturday night’s 4th Region championship game is the one they’ll be talking about for a long, long time.
“We’ve got to be 1-0 (on Saturday), that’s the mindset for us,” Lindsey said.
DEFENDS AGAINST MONROE COUNTY.
IN ITS SEMIFINAL GAME ON FRDIAY.
HAVE NOW WON 19 CONSECUTIVE GAMES.
BARREN COUNTY 45, MONROE COUNTY 25
Barren County improved to 31-2 overall, extending its winning steak to 19 games. Monroe County, which upended 14th District champion Bowling Green High School on Sunday, finished its season at 21-10.
Barren County relied on its defense throughout the game, but the first quarter certainly set the tone for the game.
Monroe County coach Clifton Hamilton watched his squad fall behind, 9-0, before calling his first timeout with 5:23 left in the quarter.
Barren County’s Shelby Byrd and teammate Abby Slagle carried the mail in the early going, but the Lady Falcons closed to within 13-7 heading into the second quarter.
Ansley Turner and the Lady Falcons tried to keep Barren County within striking distance, but the Trojanettes were digging in on defense, taking good shots and remaining efficient on offense, shooting 55 percent from the field. Barren County took a 30-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The second half was more of the same. The Trojanettes were on their way to the championship game.
“I think we got off to a really good start,” Barren County coach Piper Lindsey said. “We had some energy … It starts with these kids, buying in. They understood what they needed to do … You’re not going to play at Barren County unless you’re willing to play defense.”
So that’s what the Trojanettes did.
Slagle, a quick sophomore guard, scored all of her 13 points in the first half. She went 6-for-10 from the field, hitting a couple tough stop-and-pop shots against the Monroe County defenders. Byrd asserted herself in the second half, scoring nine of her game-high 16 points after the break. The Trojanettes stayed in control, and Lindsey had a chance to empty her bench in the fourth quarter.
Ansley Turner led the Lady Falcons with 12 points.
The Trojanettes stayed comfortably in front, and never trailed in the game.
“I wouldn’t want to play with any other group of girls,” Byrd said.
IN THE GAME”s OPENING MOMENTS.
THE TROJANETTES WITH 16 POINTS.
LOOKS TO SET UP THE OFFENSE
IN THE FIRST QUARTER …
WAS BOLTING TO AN 18-9 LEAD …
KENZIE TAYLOR’s DEFT 3 FROM THE CORNER.
FRANKLIN-SIMPSON 74, ALLEN COUNTY-SCOTTSVILLE 45
Junior guard Avery Morris and her Allen County-Scottsville teammates waited intently in the corner of Diddle Arena, taking the floor after Barren County finished its task at hand.
It was almost as though Franklin-Simpson was lying in wait.
Junior guard Allye Pennington, a transfer from East Robertson (Tennessee) High School, drilled a 3-pointer from about 25 feet out to put the Lady Cats in front, 18-3, midway through the first quarter. Morris and the Lady Patriots battled back, closing the gap to nine points before the end of the quarter, but Franklin-Simpson was ready to unleash another onslaught.
Franklin-Simpson’s Tiffany Harrigan was particularly active, matching Morris step for step in the backcourt and twice forcing turnovers near the mid-court line in the first half. Harrigan had 14 of her game-high 24 points in the first half, and her stat line was nothing short of extraordinary, when it was over.
Twenty-four points, 10-for-17 shooting, seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals.
And ZERO turnovers.
Not bad for the Franklin-Simpson senior guard.
FRANKLIN-SIMPSON HIT
12 OF 13 FREE THROWS …
ALLYE PENNINGTON
FINISHED WITH 21 POINTS.
WILL COMPETE FOR ANOTHER
KHSAA 4th REGION TITLE ON SATURDAY.
IS A TRANSFER FROM THE TENNESSEE RANKS.
Her teammates were quick to follow suit.
“I thought it was execution, on both ends of the floor,” Franklin-Simpson coach Ashley Taylor said. “You know, we saw each other, not long ago, in the 2A (Championships Tournament at Glasgow High School) … They beat us … We’ve been watching Avery (Morris) really kind of take over, so we knew we needed to stop her, defensively.
“Our goal was to hold her under 20 (points). She got 22, so we missed it, by two … but she’s a great player, man. So I thought, defensively, we had to execute.
“The ball was moving, (shots were) popping and we’ve seen double teams and all of that. So for these girls, to step up, and make big shots, I thought it was huge for us.”
Pennington started hitting tough 3-point shots in the second half, and she finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists. Morris led the Lady Patriots with 20 points, and senior center Debora Patrick, playing in her final game at AC-S, finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Both Franklin-Simpson’s Ashley Taylor and Allen County-Scottsville’s Garry DeWitt emptied their benches in the final three minutes, and with about 30 seconds left, Franklin-Simpson’s Aysha Crosby, a sophomore forward, converted an entry pass into a layup for the final basket of the night.
It was her first points of the season.
And the Lady Wildcats’ bench exploded with jubiliation.
So the stage is set, for the KHSAA 4th Region championship. There was a big crowd at Diddle Arena on Friday.
It might even be a little bigger on Saturday night.
SCORES FROM THE FREE-THROW LINE.
ALLEN COUNTY-SCOTTSVILLE
FINISH THEIR SEASON AT 22-11.
DEFENDS AGAINST AC-S STAR AVERY MORRIS.
SCORES FOR F-S IN THE FINAL MINUTE …
TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.