‘I thought we could get them’

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March 2, 2010

First quarter ‘kills’ Lady Falcons in season-ending loss

By JON WEBB Glasgow Daily Times The Glasgow Daily Times Tue Mar 02, 2010, 09:33 AM CST

BOWLING GREEN — Dwayne Murray said it takes time for a team to get acclimated to the atmosphere at the Region 4 tournament. For his Lady Falcons, that amount of time was eight minutes.

A 13-1 first quarter was too much for Monroe County to overcome Monday night, as the team fell to the Bowling Green Lady Purples 59-43 in the first round of the Region tournament at Western Kentucky’s E.A. Diddle Arena. Despite deficits as large as 22, Bowling Green only outscored the Lady Falcons 46-42 over the final three quarters, a feat coach Murray said showed the resiliency of his players.

“I’m proud of my team. We could have quit after being down 22, but we fought back,” he said “We gave Bowling Green a little scare.”

Madison Clements was particularly distressing. The freshman guard scored nine in the fourth quarter to lead Monroe with 17 points. Coach Murray said Clements’ talent has always been apparent to him, just maybe not to her.

“I’ve known since day one that Madison can shoot and score,” coach Murray said. “She’s a big key to our offense, but sometimes she forgets she can score. That just comes from being young.”

The Lady Purples defense — coupled with Monroe’s shooting struggles — made scoring a distant memory for the Lady Falcons in the first quarter. An Erica Smith field goal within the first eight seconds of play provided Bowling Green the early 2-0 advantage before Caylan Bybee halved that advantage with a free throw at the 7:30 mark. The point would be Monroe’s last of the quarter, as the Lady Purples rattled off 11 straight and to grab a 12-point lead going into the second period.

Coach Murray said he planned to stretch his offense and run clock in the first quarter, but Bowling Green’s defensive aggressiveness rendered any stall tactic impossible.

“That first quarter killed us,” he said. “We missed some shots we should have hit.”

The Lady Falcons slowly adapted in the subsequent stanza. Senior Lorran Hart gave Monroe its first field goal of the game at the 7:50 mark. Bowling Green didn’t relent, though, and set off on a 7-0 run that stretched its lead to 17 with a little more than five minutes to go in the half. Baskets from Hart, Clements, Kayla Murray and Brittany Rippy prevented the lead from flourishing and sent the Lady Falcons into the locker room trailing 31-13.

The Lady Purples were able to balloon their lead to 22 by the 3:37 mark of the third thanks in part to two Shelby Lawson three-pointers, but that lead soon began to deflate. Field goals by Bybee, Clements and Rippy and a Megan Moore three-point play made up a 9-0 Lady Falcons run which reduced Bowling Green’s advantage to 13 with 1:24 to play in the stanza.

But that’s as close as Monroe would ever get. Nine final-quarter points from Clements wasn’t enough to incite another Lady Falcon run, sending Monroe home for good with a 16-point loss.

Clements was the only Lady Falcon to score in double figures. Bybee followed with seven points. Hart (six), Moore (five), Kayla Murray (four) and Rippy (four) rounded out the scorers. The defeat ends the high-school basketball careers of seniors Hart, Ariel Murray, Gabrielle Burgess, Lacy Cleary and Jessa Curtis.

The Lady Purples’ careers will continue into the second round of the Region, where they will face Franklin-Simpson (22-8). Bowling Green posted a 26-2 record overall this season, including a 16-0 mark in the Region. The squad’s last loss came on Dec. 22 against Webster County. Since the loss, the Lavonda-Johnson-coached Lady Purples have won 22 in a row by margins as large as 46. Monday’s 16-point triumph over Monroe is the team’s narrowest win since a nine-point defeat of Greenwood on Feb. 5.

The Lady Falcons finish the season with an 18-8 overall record, but in the midst of Monroe’s third quarter run, coach Murray thought a 19th win was well within his grasp.

“I thought we could get them,” he said. “But it didn’t work out that way.”

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First quarter ‘kills’ Lady Falcons in season-ending loss

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