Jim Mashek

LADY PURPLES WILL SQUARE OFF WITH OWENSBORO CATHOLIC ON WEDNESDAY IN SWEET SIXTEEN

History was in the back of their minds, but the Bowling Green High School girls basketball team left nothing to chance Sunday evening.

The Lady Purples unleashed a furious first quarter and never looked back in the KHSAA 4th Region Tournament championship game, rolling to a 59-37 victory over Barren County High School at WKU’s E.A. Diddle Arena.

The resounding victory brought Bowling Green an unprecedented fourth consecutive 4th Region championship, and the Lady Purples did it in style. With emphasis. While gaining some momentum for their first-round Sweet Sixteen game on Wednesday morning against Owensboro Catholic at Lexington’s Rupp Arena.

“Wanting to win, to go to state, that is what everybody wants to do,” BGHS coach Calvin Head said. “But we also put ourselves in the history books, winning four in a row and being the all-time winningest program in this region.

“There were four (4th Region championships) before I got here, so you have to give credit to those players and staff that got this program moving in the right direction.”

Bowling Green’s Saniyah Shelton, the tournament MVP, played the entire 32 minutes and kept the Lady Purples on the attack. The 5-foot-10 senior, who will play next season at Eastern Kentucky University, was on top of her game against Barren County. And she had plenty of help from her friends.

“We knew we just had to come out and play smart,” Shelton said.

Shelton became a full-time point guard this season while showing the Lady Purples the way back to Rupp Arena. The sinewy BGHS senior sparked Bowling Green to a 10-0 lead before the Trojanettes scored a single point, hitting a turnaround jumper in the lane before Barren County coach Piper Lindsey called a timeout with 4:29 left in the first quarter.

By then, the tone for the game had been established.

The Lady Purples were on their way to Lexington.

BGHS coach Calvin Head disclosed that Shelton had been in a car accident late Saturday night after the Lady Purples trounced Metcalfe County 73-39 in the second semifinal game. Shelton said she was driving on Scottsville Road, accompanied by BGHS team manager Brady Hamilton, when she was sideswiped on the driver’s side.

Head indicated that Shelton wasn’t seriously injured, but said she “was sore.”

Shelton was wearing several ice packs over her uniform on the Diddle Arena floor, so the Lady Purples weren’t taking any chances. The senior BGHS point guard did it all against Barren County, finishing with a game-high 16 points — on 7-of-9 shooting — along with seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Shelton said she got to sleep sometime around 4 a.m. Sunday and didn’t get a lot of rest, but she was mentally ready to play against Barren County, and the Lady Purples were equally poised to make it happen.

Bowling Green led 18-4 after the first quarter before taking a 32-15 advantage into the locker room at the break.

Head used just two players off his bench — 5-foot-1 defensive dynamo NaTaya Wardlow and junior shooting guard Chloe Potter — but the Lady Purples played with verve and intensity while improving to 23-10 overall.

The Trojanettes finished their season at 28-6.

Meadow Tisdale, the Lady Purples’ senior center and the 4th Region Player of the Year, turned in a typically sturdy performance. Tisdale finished the game with eight point, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Shelton, Tisdale and BGHS guard Tanaya Bailey are the Lady Purples’ three seniors, and they’ve made Bowling Green a perennial contender in Kentucky girls high school basketball.

“Meadow’s a big target on the block,” Bailey said. “And Saniyah can find different ways to get you the ball. She creates open passes, she sees the court really well.”

Bailey, the big sister of BGHS guard Deuce Bailey — who’s the starting quarterback for the KHSAA Class 5A runner-up squad — is planning on attending nursing school but still gets some feelers from college coaches in the Mid-South. Bailey had 12 points in Sunday’s game, while sophomore forward Katy Smiley added nine points, all on 3-point field goals.

Smiley has become the Lady Purples’ primary 3-point shooter since they lost junior guard Ryleigh Campbell to a torn ACL about one month ago.

“Coach Head told us to play defense like champions, and that would help our energy,” Smiley said. “All three of our seniors are great leaders.”

Barren County coach Piper Lindsey got more offensive production from her team in the second half, but by then the Lady Purples were comfortably ahead.

“We struggled to score, struggled to take care of the basketball,” Lindsey said. “(Bowling Green) is a top team. They’ve played a heckuva schedule, they know what they are doing. Calvin Head does a good job. We did the best we could.

“I thought our girls fought. We battled the entire time. You can’t fault the kids for their effort.”

Meadow Tisdale, the senior BGHS center, said that challenging schedule has paid dividends in the postseason. In 14th District and 4th Region tournaments, the Lady Purples have outscored their five opponents by an average of 27 points.

That’s a lot of points.

“Coach Head just wanted us to keep it simple,” Tisdale said. “Defend like a champion. Going on to state, every year, you want to play for the gold trophy, but you’ve got to get there, first.

“I think some of our Saturday games, against teams like (two-time defending state champion) Sacred Heart, have really helped us.”

Tisdale was out with a knee injury when the Lady Purples traveled to Louisville to tangle with Sacred Heart on February 4. Sacred Heart would win that game 75-47, but Tisdale returned to the fold about a week later, and Bowling Green has been quick to assert itself in postseason play.

Bowling Green shot 57 percent from the field, including an 8-for-10 showing in the first quarter, when the Trojanettes were scrambling to stay in the game. Abby Varney led Barren County with 10 points while Katie Elmore and Katie Murphy added nine and eight points, respectively.

The Lady Purples scored 25 points off 16 Barren County turnovers.

Barren County loses two seniors from this year’s team, Macy Lockhart and Adison Smith. Piper Lindsey is expecting big things from her returning BCHS players for the 2023-24 season.

“Next year, I think we should be a top contender,” Lindsey said.

Now Calvin Head and the Lady Purples turn their attention to Wednesday morning’s first-round Sweet Sixteen game against Owensboro Catholic. Bowling Green defeated the Lady Aces 55-54 on February 11 in a single-day showcase at Breckenridge High School, but the Lady Purples were without Meadow Tisdale in that game.

“It’s a very quick turnaround,” Head said. “We just want to be prepared when we go up there on Wednesday and put our best foot forward.”

Bowling Green was represented on the all-tournament team by Tisdale, Shelton, Bailey, JaSiyah Franklin and Katy Smiley — the Lady Purples entire starting five. They were joined by Barren County’s Katie Elmore and Katie Murphy, along with Metcalfe County’s Josie Allen and Aubrey Jolley, Russellville’s A’miyah Collier and Lareesha Cawthrorn, Logan County’s Gracie Borders, Greenwood’s Leia Trinh, Clinton County’s Landree Moons and Glasgow’s Mia Cassidy.