Fourth Region Tournament (Girls), E.A. Diddle Arena, Western Kentucky University

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Franklin-Simpson 49 - Bowling Green 37
Fourth Region Championship Game

This is a first for the Pennyrile Pick and Roll. I was able to make it to an entire girls basketball game today, and I've lived to write about it. That's a joke. I have nothing against girls basketball. I never write about it because I have my limitations, and I have this crazy thing that a lot of people call a "job." No, I'm not talking about the "Job" of the Old Testament; I'm talking about the "job" that keeps Pick and Roll old and testy. I have to draw the line somewhere or I would spend too much time watching basketball. While I believe there's no such thing, my wife does. I apologize to fans of girls basketball because I sacrifice it to keep up with boys basketball.

If any readers wonder what goes into Pick and Roll decision making, click here to see some video of our last editorial staff meeting.

The Franklin-Simpson Lady Wildcats have been a team on a mission for the entire season. Coming into Saturday afternoon's game, they had only two blemishes on their record in 33 ballgames. They dropped a game to Muhlenberg North on December 28th in the Greenwood Classic, and they lost to Henderson by five on January 19th in the Shooting Star Classic at Muhlenberg North.

They took on the Lady Purples from Bowling Green, who beat a tough Barren County team on Friday night to reach the finals. The Lady Purples had something to prove, carrying a 22-10 records into the championship.

In the first quarter, it seemed like neither team would ever break the ice and score. They were nearly three minutes into the game before Cheyenne Brown scored for the Lady Wildcats. Bowling Green's Erica Smith and Alexis Lawrence responded with back-to-back three pointers, and it seemed that the Lady Purples had thrown down a challenge to Franklin-Simpson. the two teams traded basket and more than made up for the lack of scoring in the first three minutes of the game. Franklin-Simpson had a 12-8 lead.

The Lady Wildcats had a devil of a time with traveling calls early in the game. I guess they were over-anxious and started their moves before putting the ball on the floor. It can be tricky, and the calls made me realize why I'd hate to be a referee.

Bowling Green tied the game at 12, but the Lady Wildcats went on an 18-6 run and took a commanding 30-16 lead at halftime.

Franklin-Simpson's Kelleshia Cook, who's going to play college ball in COOKville, Tennesee, is a very good basketball player. Anytime there's chaos on Franklin's defensive end, Kelleshia Cook is going to be involved in it somehow. She makes important plays on that end of the court and out hustles everyone on the court. She gets to the loose balls. She gets the ball as it's going out-of-bounds when the other team has given up on it. She seems to be everywhere. She finished the game with five steals, which was half of the team's total.

The early part of the third quarter went badly for Bowling Green. They were frustrated and seemed to lose their composure. Kelleshia Cook hit a three pointer that put the Lady Wildcats up 42-22, and it seemed that they were going to crush the Purples like a big juicy grape. That wasn't the case. Bowling Green rallied and closed the quarter with an 8-2 run. They matched Franklin in the third with each team scoring 14 points.

Franklin-Simpson took control in the middle of the fourth quarter. Bowling Green trimmed the lead, but the Lady Wildcats went into an impressive stall offense that kept the Lady Purples' defense rushing around the court. They ran a lot of time off the clock and won the championship with a 49-37 victory.

Franklin-Simpson had three players with 13 points: Dominique Cook, Kelleshia Cook, and Chastity Gooch. Apparently, you had to have double o's in your name to score in double digits for the Lady Wildcats on Saturday. I guess Drea Gooch didn't get the memo because she only had four points.

Erica Smith led the Purples in scoring with 16 points. Bowling Green only shot 26.7% from the field and was a miserable 3-17 from beyond the arc. They shot 20% in the first half. They did out rebound the Lady Wildcats, 31-28, and had 15 offensive boards, which can be expected when a team has a terrible shooting night.

Franklin-Simpson's road to the Sweet Sixteen will be a short one -- in distance. The Girls' Sweet Sixteen is played at Diddle Arena starting on Wednesday. The Lady Wildcats play at 6:30 on Thursday evening and will play the Eighth Region Champ, which won't be decided until Monday night.

OBSERVATIONS

Purple Purpus: That's not a typographical error. The Lady Purples has a player with the last name of "Purpus." Purple's Purpus Plays with Purpose. Man! Say that three times real fast.

The All-Geography Team: Kristie Nation, Cumberland County; Cecilia Smith, Bowling Green; Katie Covington, Todd County; Savannah Hilliard, Franklin-Simpson; and Cheyenne Brown, Franklin-Simpson. That makes me wonder how many times a pass for the Lady Wildcats goes from Cheyenne to Savannah.

Superman Villain: Lex Lindsey? Oh, wait, that's Lex Luther, and although Coach Lindsey is a basketball genius, he's no villain. He seems to be a heck of a nice guy. He stomps on the court every time he wants the attention of his team. It startled me whenever he did it this afternoon. I'm worried that Lex is going to end up with shin splints if he's not careful. WKU might send him a bill for the repair of a few boards of the Diddle Arena floor, though.

Not Too Many Cooks in Franklin's Kitchen: The Lady Wildcats have Dominique Cook and Kelleshia Cook for players, but they also have Kelly Cook on the bench as an assistant coach. No one complains about too many Cooks in the kitchen in Franklin.

Pick and Roll Breaks Routine: I travel a lot during the week, and the driving can really wear these tired bones down. I like to press the couch on Saturday afternoons and usually drift off in a nap watching a couple of football schools play basketball on television. Four in the afternoon is prime nap time, but I was at Diddle instead. That's after sledding with my children for four hours on Saturday.

All Tournament Team

I must apologize because I missed one name as it was announced.

Alexis Lawrence - Bowling Green
Arial McKinney - Bowling Green
Paige Lee - Glasgow
Charli Fant - Glasgow
Erica Smith - Bowling Green
Brittany Payne - Franklin-Simpson
Courtney Thomas - Barren County
Kelsey Mitchell (Freshman) - Barren County
Dominique Cook - Franklin-Simpson
Ashley Rainey - Warren East
Chastity Gooch - Franklin-Simpson
Laura Fletcher - Cumberland County
Arienne Tarrence (Freshman) - Bowling Green
Kelleshia Cook - Franklin-Simpson