THE GOLD STANDARD

Perhaps Lomega’s dominance of Class B girls basketball this season was best summed up by coach Kevin Lewallen’s reaction when one of his best players fouled out with 1:52 left - in the third quarter! - of the state championship game.

It wasn’t disgust. It wasn’t panic.

It was little more than an annoyance with Emma Duffy, the team’s leading scorer at the time, was whistled for her fifth foul with nearly 10 minutes left to play in the biggest game of the season.

“I obviously didn’t want Emma to foul out,” Lewallen said. “I wasn’t real worried about the scoring part of it; it was the defense that Emma was playing that scared me a little more.”

Fear not.

Top-ranked Lomega added to its lore Saturday afternoon at State Fair Arena by unseating defending state champion Varnum 69-54 in the Class B girls title game.

Four different Lady Raiders scored in double figures as Lomega won its 14th girls title, adding to its record, and finishing the season 30-2 with 27 straight wins.

It was the third championship in six seasons for Lomega, but the first since 2016.

“I really wanted it,” sophomore Hensley Eaton said. “Watching everyone else do it before and then us getting to win it feels pretty good.”

Eaton certainly did her part.

When Duffy fouled out with 15 points, Varnum was in the midst of its best stretch of the night and had cut Lomega’s once insurmountable lead to just 10 points (it had been eight earlier in the quarter).

“They switched to a 2-2-1 half-court trap and we turned it over three straight trips I think,” Lewallen said. “We didn’t look our best out there, but we got settled in. I thought Hensley had a great fourth quarter.”

Eaton scored six straight to extend Lomega’s lead to 17 points just 34 seconds into the fourth quarter. She added five straight points later in the quarter, with the latter bucket giving her team a 64-46 advantage with 2:57 to play.

She ended her day with a team-high 19 points, 14 of which came in the second half.

Eaton was named the state tournament MVP by The Oklahoman staff.

“Whenever Emma got her fifth foul, I knew I was going to have to step it up because we didn’t have one of our best players out there,” Eaton said.

“We did what we had to do and won it all.”

Winning it all seemed like a foregone conclusion as early as last summer.

The talented Adysen Wilson joined a team that was returning the likes of Eaton, Duffy and upcoming freshmen Darcy Roberts and Sydni Walker, who were just some of those expecting to contribute this season.

But then Duffy tore her ACL over the summer, which eliminated her from the first-semester games.

The Lady Raiders also started the season without Walker, a dominant presence in the paint who was suffering from a foot injury. What was supposed to be a brief stint on the sidelines turned into one that lasted into January.

That meant a lot more playing time for others in November and December.

But Lomega also started the year “just” 3-2 with losses to Calumet and Okarche, two teams that eventually qualified for the Class A state tournament.

“We got beat twice in those games, which you don’t like that, but like you said they all got a lot of playing time,” Lewallen said.

As the fouls mounted up against Varnum on Saturday, the playing time in November and December began to pay off.

Junior Reagan Ramer and sophomore Shelby Russell provided valuable minutes.

Ramer had three boards while Russell scored three points and grabbed eight rebounds.

“I don’t know how many rebounds she had, but it was a lot,” Lewallen said of Russell directly after the game. Three of Russell’s rebounds were on the offensive end.

“I thought she had a heck of a ball game tonight.”

The game started like most others for Lomega this season - quickly in its favor.

Roberts swiped a steal, passed it off and got it back for a layup and a 10-4 lead at the 2:53 mark of the first quarter, a play that prompted a Varnum timeout.

The lead grew to 17-8 on Wilson’s driving bucket late in the quarter.

The second is when foul trouble kicked in.

Roberts picked up her third foul eight seconds in the quarter and went to the bench.

Duffy got her third 30 seconds into it, but stayed in the game.

“Coach just said ‘we need you out there; you have to play so be smart, keep in the game and be focused;” Duffy recalled.

The gamble paid off.

After Varnum cut its deficit to five points, Lomega went on a 14-4 run for a 34-19 lead.

Duffy nailed three 3-pointers while Eaton hit another. Duffy also had a putback for the final points in that stretch.

“I knew my team could do it but I didn’t want to just be out there,” she said of her contributions despite foul trouble.

She finished with 15 points and five rebounds and got redemption against a team that ended her sophomore season in the semifinals.

“We knew right from the beginning we wanted to play Varnum again, so that was even more motivation,” Duffy said. “It feels so good.”

Walker scored 14 points and joined Russell in leading the team with eight rebounds.

Wilson scored 10 to go with six rebounds, three assists and three steals as she handled the ball against Varnum’s pressure much of the night.

“Ady was as good a floor general as you could have,” Lewallen said of the junior’s performance. “And she still scored in double figures.”

Five different Lady Raiders did that in Friday’s 80-48 win against Lookeba-Sickles (see Sunday’s edition).

Whereas Varnum had two players combine for 40 of its points - Morgan Kinsey scored 25 and Grace Lena 15 - Lomega’s was more spread out.

“Varnum’s a really good team. They’re really athletic and get after you on defense,” Lewallen noted. “But we’ve had six players score over 20 points in a game this year. We can put it in the hole.”

The Lady Raiders were held in the 40s just four times this season, including inboth losses, but only once since the holiday break.

They scored in the 70s four times, the 80s 13 times, twice in the 90s and broke the century mark on two different occasions.

“This is as good a group as I’ve had offensively. They can really score the basketball. All of them can,” Lewallen said. “And that’s the way we like to play. It’s crazy what they’ve done.”

It might also be considered “crazy” the success Lewallen has had coaching his alma mater.

In his 15 seasons as a head coach, Lewallen has now been on the sidelines in eight state championship games.

Saturday’s title was his sixth, putting him in elite company.

He’s now tied with David Sanders for coaching championships among girls coaches.

Only Rick Wilson (7) and Bertha Teague (8) have more.

Lewallen, however, will only refer to himself as the most decorated bus driver in Oklahoma preps history.

“It’s nothing I do. All the credit goes to those girls,” he said. “They’re in the gym all the time, playing basketball, shooting the basketball, playing pickup games, whatever it is. I’m just the bus driver. I’m happy to be along.”

Lomega’s quarterfinal win against McCurtain gave the program 62 state tournament victories. That broke a tie with Byng for most among girls’ programs.

After Saturday, the number stands at 64.

Considering Lomega returns every player on its roster next season - and will be moving up a group of eighth graders that don’t know what it’s like to experience a loss in a Lomega uniform - many expect the Lady Raiders to be right back in the same place for “Championship Saturday’ in 2021.

However, Lewallen isn’t among them.

He his chickens - or gold balls - before they hatched previously.

Never again.

“The future is looking bright, but I’m going to take this one, relax a little bit and celebrate because one time I did get ahead of myself on the ‘next one;” he said.

“So we’re not going to talk about next year for a while.”