Green lights it up

Allison Green epitomized the entire Kingfisher Lady Jackets basketball team in its season opener.

The KHS senior couldn’t quite find the mark in the first quarter, but caught fire in the second.

The result was a career night for Green in a 73-18 win for KHS at Chisholm’s Outhier Fieldhouse.

“Allison is one of those girls who you have to get out there and guard her,” said KHS head coach Taylor Young, who was making her debut with the program.

“If not, she has the ability to fill it up.”

Fill ‘er up, she did. Green couldn’t find the mark in the first quarter, but KHS still had a 12-4 lead.

Then she knocked one down to start the second. Then another. Then another.

By the time her barrage was done, Green had four 3-pointers and 21 points in the second quarter alone.

It was part of a 27-3 KHS run that saw the Lady Jackets extend their lead to 39-7.

“I knew they were going to start falling at some point,” Young said. “It was just a matter of time.”

Addy Matthews hit three treys to begin the third quarter as Kingfisher pushed its advantage to 60-14.

All told, KHS was 12 of 35 from long range.

Green made 6 of 10 as part of her 29-point night.

Matthews was 4 of 12 and scored 16 points.

All the while, Kingfisher’s defense wrecked Chisholm’s hopes.

The hosts shot just 19 percent (7 of 36) and turned it over 19 times.

KHS scored 21 points off of those turnovers.

Among the major thorns in Chisholm’s collective sides was Peyton Walker.

The sophomore scored six points to go with five rebounds, eight assists, two steals and four more deflections.

Her defense on the press and at the top Chisholm’s offense proved more than effective.

“Peyton does things that don’t always show up on the stat sheet,” Young said. “But on the floor, she has that ability where you don’t recognize how many things she does well just looking at it. She just has that tenacious ability to stay in front and cause some problems on their point guard.”

If Young had a complaint, it was the number of fouls collected by KHS, especially early in the game.

The team’s goal was to hold Chisholm to 10 points or fewer - for the game.

“If we don’t foul, just stay moving our feet and not reaching and trying to go for everything, you know we hold them to a little bit less than we did,” Young said.

Rayland Garner, who made her return after missing last season with a torn ACL, and Emily Myers both saw extended time on the bench with first-half foul trouble.

Garner returned to form in the third quarter where she scored all 10 of her points. She added four rebounds and two steals.

“Ray has been moving really well the last couple of weeks,” Young said of the senior who also battled through an ankle injury in the preseason. “Not that she’s 100 percent yet, but she brings a different level of intensity as far as rebounding and toughness.”

Myers ended her night with six points and also had three steals and six deflections.

KHS had 18 deflections as a team and 12 steals.

Young has taken part in hundreds of games as a player in high school and then later in college and also as an assistant high school coach.

Friday night was her debut as a varsity head coach.

“It was special in a different sense of being a coach versus player, but at the same time it’s just basketball,” she said.

“I love the game and I love to compete whether it’s as a coach or a player and I enjoyed getting that first win.”