Bounce-Back Victory

After her team blew a sizable lead and was dealt a loss Monday in the opening round of the Mustang Holiday Classic, coach Taylor Young had a surprisingly positive reaction.

“The good thing about playing in a tournament is that you get to play in less than 24 hours,” Young said.

“You have an opportunity to correct your mistakes.”

The 24 hours - which included an early-morning practice - proved beneficial as KHS came back to beat Strother 56-34 in Tuesday’s consolation semifinal.

Strother, Class A’s sixthranked team, was smothered early as KHS didn’t allow a field goal for more than four minutes and raced to a 17-1 lead.

Strother never recovered.

KHS was up 24-9 after a quarter at which time Rayland Garner had scored 13 points.

She ended with 19.

Fellow senior Allison Green also scored 19.

She had 14 by halftime and did all her scoring through three quarters, including a trio of 3-pointers.

Addy Matthews knocked down a pair of treys for her six points as Kingfisher moved to 7-2 on the season.

The Lady Jackets held Strother to 38 percent shooting.

Monday’s breakfast in Mustang wasn’t nearly as appetizing.

Kingfisher let a 10-point lead disappear in the fourth quarter before eventually dropping a 46-41 overtime decision to Putnam City North.

The game, which also tipped off at 9 a.m., put an end to the Lady Jackets’ five-game win streak.

“Turnovers and second-chance points,” were what Young said turned the tide in the Lady Panthers’ favor.

KHS turned it over 21 times, including nine in the fourth quarter. Putnam City North also had 13 offensive rebounds in the game.

The Lady Panthers outscored Kingfisher 19-9 in the fourth quarter with all but five of those points coming in the paint.

Putnam City North then held the Lady Jackets scoreless in the overtime period.

Nini Geretta scored 12 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including 11 in the fourth quarter.

Her bucket with 53 seconds left gave PC North it first lead since the first quarter.

However, KHS still had a chance to win in regulation.

Garner scored on a putback with 19 seconds left to tie the game at 41-41 before the Lady Panthers turned it over trying to inbound the ball.

Kingfisher, though, was unable to take advantage and score on its final possession.

Neither team could manage a point in the extra frame until Paris Hardwick scored in the lane with 40 seconds remaining.

Kingfisher misfired on its final two possessions and Geretta iced the game with a pair of free throws with 2 seconds left.

The game also started with PC North flexing it muscle.

It got out to a 7-2 lead before Young called a timeout at the 4:15 mark.

The Lady Jackets answered with a 14-2 run over the next 9:10.

Garner scored all 10 of Kingfisher’s first-quarter points as the Lady Jackets went up 10-9 and the advantage was 21-17 at the half.

Green and Matthews made third-quarter 3-pointers to help Kingfisher build a 32-19 lead.

Jasmine McCloud banked in a long 3-pointer near the end of the third to pull PC North within 10. She knocked in another trey in the fourth as the Lady Panthers mounted their comeback.

In Kingfisher’s fourth-quarter possessions, 48 percent ended with a turnover.

Hardwick was the Lady Panthers’ only consistent scoring threat.

She scored six early and then six in the final 12 minutes as part of her gamehigh 18 points.

Garner scored 17 to pace KHS.

Green ended her day with 13, but no other Lady Jacket scored more than three points.

Kingfisher was set to play at noon Wednesday (after press time) in the consolation championship against the winner of Tuesday’s Piedmont-Springdale (Ark.) game (also after press time).