KHS sends Chicks home with losses
BROOKLYN WHIPPLE battles for position during Kingfisher’s win last Tuesday against Chickasha. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos.smugmug.com ]
KINGFISHER SENIOR Stone Snodgrass scores what proved to be the winning takedown against Casady’s Will Dunigan in their 145-pound match Thursday in Kingfisher. Snodgrass trailed 3-2 before scoring the takedown with 30 seconds left in the final period. He
It wasn’t the same blowout as earlier this month, but Kingfisher’s girls basketball team still picked up a comfortable win.
Despite missing a starter, the Lady Jackets dealt Chickasha a 49-30 defeat at the APB, giving the team its first home win of the season.
“That was a while coming,” said head coach Jay Wood after his team won its third straight, improved to 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the Canadian Valley Conference.
“We had been close (at home) against some good teams, but couldn’t pull one out. We needed that one.”
Senior Katelyn Stolz missed the game with strep throat, but sophomore Britt Taylor filled her starting spot and led the team with 12 points.
Taylor had four points in the first quarter as KHS got out to a quick lead, but didn’t pull away from the Lady Chicks until a late first-half run.
A 9-0 KHS run, including five points by Rilee Barton, gave KHS a 25-15 halftime lead.
Barton finished the game with nine points.
Brooklyn Whipple led the third-quarter surge that saw KHS extend its lead to 17 points.
Whipple scored seven points during the most prolific stretch and ended her night with 11 overall.
Several of the Lady Jackets benefited from Hanna Matthews. Though the junior scored only three points - all on free throws - she did hand out eight assists.
Matthews also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
KHS had 11 offensive boards on the night, led by three from Brennen Davis, and forced 24 Chickasha turnovers. That helped offset a night in which the Lady Jackets shot 34 percent, including 12 percent (2 of 17) from 3-point range.
“We seem to struggle more when teams get into a zone (defense),” Wood said. “We’ve got to start shooting it better and hopefully force their hands a little more.”
Jackets throttle chicks for 11th win
Chickasha’s first-half strategy worked well enough, but it was nowhere near enough to pull off an upset.
The offensively-patient Chicks limited Kingfisher’s touches in the first half, but not in the second as the Jackets pulled away for an 87-36 win at the APB.
KHS, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, upped its overall record to 11-1 and its Canadian Valley Conference mark to 8-0.
Chickasha chewed as much time off the clock as it could with each possession, and “held” KHS to 34 first-half points.
That was after Jett Sternberger hit two quick 3-pointers as part of a 10-0 KHS run to start the game. Although the momentum slowed, Kingfisher still led by 18 points at the break.
That lead only grew exponentially in the third quarter.
Sternberger added two more treys, Bijan Cortes showed off his collection of skills, Matt Stone and Trey Green scored easily, Reese Lafferty got his first bucket of the game and sophomore Maverick Ridenour even threw in a 3-pointer.
When the carnage was over, Kingfisher had put 32 more points on the board in just eight minutes and led by 37 points.
Sternberger eventually led the team with 18 points. He was 4 of 7 from 3-point range and showed signs of coming out of a shooting slump that had been with him since the Tournament of Champions began.
Cortes added 16 points and six assists. Stone scored 15 points and led the team with seven rebounds.
Green scored 13, all in the second and third quarters.
In all, the Jackets drained 12 of 25 (48 percent). Stone and Ridenour knocked down two apiece.
KHS was nearly unstoppable inside the arc as it made 21 of 26 shots (81 percent), most at the rim.
The Jackets outscored Chickasha 40-24 in the paint.
Chickasha, which fell to 4-11, turned it over 17 times and shot just 34 percent from the field.