Bourbon High School’s girl’s basketball team competed in the Valley Park Round Robin Tournament beginning on Dec. 27 against Valley Park. The Lady Warhawks convincingly defeated Valley Park for its fourth win of the season in their first matchup of the tournament, which is detailed below.

Bourbon then played Jennings on Dec. 29 and Grandview on Dec. 30, which will be detailed in next week’s edition. The Lady Warhawks will then host the Battle of Bourbon Tournament beginning on Jan. 5 with a 5:30 p.m. matchup against Belle. The rest of Bourbon’s matchups in the tournament are TBD based on the results of the game against Belle.

Dec. 27 vs. Valley Park

The Lady Warhawks came out of the holidays inspired after making the journey to Valley Park two days after Christmas. Bourbon was in control of the game from tip-off and led 17-2 after the first quarter. Valley Park scored the first four points of the second quarter, but the Lady Warhawks didn’t waver. After a timeout from head coach Devon Payne, Bourbon settled back in and took a 29-8 lead heading into halftime. The Lady Warhawks remained in control for the rest of the game and led 33-12 after the third quarter before ending the afternoon with a 46-22 victory.

Payne credited the victory to his team’s dominant first quarter, and their ability to learn from mistakes as the game went on.

“The girls worked hard tonight. We hit some shots early, and that kind of gave us confidence to control throughout the game,” Payne said. “So for us, it was getting that early lead and kind of just rolling with it. But after that first big run, it was a fairly even ball game from then on. But it was a good matchup for us to learn from throughout the game. That’s the goal, if you can win, great, but learning, making it teachable moments, that’s, that’s what I kind of look for.”

Bourbon came into the matchup undersized at multiple positions, especially against Park Hills center Peyton Whitney, who stands at over six feet tall. But Payne implored a 2-2-1 matchup zone defense, which successfully neutralized the size of Park Hills throughout the game.

“They had a big post girl (Whitney) that is a very good player, and we were happy to three-quarter and come in and pinch her from the weak side too,” Payne said. “So we basically were guarding her with three kids. And as easy as that sounds, it’s actually really difficult, because that girl can use her body and post up really well. And every time a shot went up, we put bodies on somebody, and we didn’t give them many second chances.”

Bourbon was boosted by the return of sophomore Kinzii Withorn, who missed the previous two games due to injury. Withorn scored a game-high 14 points and continuously made it difficult for Whitney to score in the post. Payne spoke about how Withorn’s versatility helps his team in numerous ways. 

“She (Withorn) can get to the basket, she can shoot from the perimeter. She’s just an all around good player, and it helps break up the monotony of just having so much pressure on my other guards and even our post players, when you’re able to spread it out that way,” Payne said. “She can play at the high post, she can play from the perimeter. We put her down low sometimes. Just her being able to spread the floor for the other girls, it makes it easier on everybody.”

All eight Lady Warhawks scored against Park Hills. Kinzey Waldron knocked down a pair of three-pointers and two pointers to finish with 10 points. Kaitlyn King scored nine points and Savanna Vance added five. Hayden Terry, Bree Bouse, Reese Bell and Ella Biles all scored a bucket to finish with two points. Biles scored on a putback after she grabbed a strong offensive rebound over a Park Hills defender in the fourth quarter.