After a bit of a Christmas hangover, the Christian County Lady Colonels found their stride and lowered the boom on the Caverna Lady Colonels Wednesday afternoon. The Lady Colonels limited Caverna to just five field goals on the day and pitched a shutout in the 4th quarter on their way to a 71-16 win in the opening game of the 2023 Vanous Lloyd Christmas Tournament at Warren Central High School in Bowling Green.
Christian County, which normally uses a high-pressure defense to force opponents into miscues, which the Lady Colonels then turn into runout opportunities, elected to open the game in a half-court zone against the outgunned Caverna team. With the slower pace, the Lady Colonels appeared to have a little bit of trouble getting the attack up and running.
Not the game was ever in doubt though. The Lady Colonels held Caverna scoreless until 1:11 to go when Kadence Brown banked in a three from the top of the key. By that point, both Lazarie Daniel and Anaysia Bagwell had more points each than did Caverna. Christian County’s lead would be 17-3 after the first quarter.
Reserves for Christian County saw much of the action in the second quarter. Still the Lady Colonels were able to extend the break to 27-8 going into the break.
Coming out of the half, the coaching staff decided the Lady Colonels needed an energy jolt and turning on the vaunted Christian County press for about four minutes did the trick. Christian County began to force more turnovers and in turn got more layup opportunities. After about four minutes of the press, Christian County dropped back into the half-court trap, which was nearly as effective as the press, as Caverna had all kinds of trouble handling the ball in the third quarter.
After scoring 27 points in the first half, the Lady Colonels added 26 in the third quarter and blew the lead out to 53-16.
Christian County reserves then came back in and finished out the game by shutting out Caverna over the final eight minutes as they rolled on to the 55-point win.
Anaysia Bagwell was one of three Lady Colonels to reach double figures with 14 points. Lazarie Daniel finished the day with 13. Genesis McGee came off the bench to finish with 10.
Caverna was led by Kadence Brown with 8.
Christian County (4-7) will play in the tournament winner’s bracket semifinals Thursday afternoon.
CCHS — 17 10 26 18 – 71
CVHS — 3 5 8 0 – 16
Christian County – Bagwell 14, Daniel 13, McGee 10, Day 8, Northington 6, Reid 6, Smith 6, Anderson 2, Carliah Hobson 2, Carlie Hobson 2, Bradley 2
Caverna – Brown 8, Salee 5, Maxey 2, Martin 1
