Both games resulted in Barren County wins, but the Russellville basketball teams did many positive things in their Senior Night games Tuesday as they prepare for Friday’s Clashes of the Cats at Logan County High School.
The Lady Panthers were especially competitive against a traditional regional power which came into R’ville as a decided favorite. The Trojanettes broughtin with a 17-5 record and the second highest RPi in the region. They Lady Panthers were 9-8 and rated 14th in the Fourth Region. Coach Piper Lindsey is in her ninth season steering the Barren ship. RHS has its fourth straight head coach and its fifth in the six seasons the seniors have been on the team.
And, Russellville was without one of its most experienced players, senior Jaylah Kees. She had missed the first few games of the season with a severely injured ankle. The night before this game, she injured the other.
Yet with all that, Coach Orlando Hayden’s team trailed by only a point after the second and third quarters, the last one coming on a goal by Kees’ younger sister, Ja’eda Poindexter, on an assist from their cousin, A’miyah Collier.
Then Russellville built a five-point lead early in the fourth quarter after seven straight points by veteran senior Brinley Mason. She hit a 3-pointer, sank a pair of free throws, and scored on an assist from LaReesha Cawthorn, who had pulled down a defensive rebound and sped upcourt with it. Suddenly, RHS led 34-29.
Trojanette star Abigail Varney hit a 3-pointer, but the Lady Panthers went up five again on a three-point play by Cawthorn.
That came with 3:36 remaining in the game. Russellville never scored again and lost 42-37. The Lady Panthers missed three shots from long range and turned the ball over twice during that drought.
Varney scored 16 points, which is her average. Six other Barren County players scored. She also had 7 rebounds.
Mason scored 12 and Cawthorn 11 for the home team. Cawthorn was awesome on the boards again with 14 rebounds. She’s averaging 13.2 rebounds per game.
Panthers competitive for three quarters
The Trojans were also big favorites. They are rated fifth in the region while RHS is 13th. Barren came in with a 13-8 record and the Panthers 5-11.
Yet, Coach Phil Todd’s team led 24-18 after a quarter. BCHS tied it at 24-24, but senior center Layne Steele hit his fourth straight 3-pointer without a miss to make it 27-24. He suffered an injury a little later and wasn’t able to play much after that.
When Nick Woodard scored for the Panthers with two seconds left in the half, RHS went into the intermission with the same six-point margin as the Panthers had held entering the quarter.
Barren County took the lead in the third quarter, but Eli McMurry took advantage of an Andrew Dowlen assist to score at the buzzer to pull the Panthers to within one point at 49-48.
Leading 51-50, the Trojans then took over, scoring 10 straight points before McMurry scored again. Then the Trojans pulled away, winning 71-58.
Despite missing much of the game, Steele was the Panthers’ leading scorer with 12 points. McMurry had 10, Dowlen 9, Jayden Russell and Tutu McKeage 8 each, and Jayden Russell 7.
The Panthers managed only 15 rebounds, led by Steele and McKeage with just 3 each.