Jackets find right balance of ‘O’ and ‘D’ in victory at Chickasha

From the outside looking in, Kingfisher’s offense looked better.

From inside the coaches’ offices, they liked what they saw on the defensive end.

No matter which was better, Kingfisher put an end to a two-game losing skid last Tuesday with a 53-40 victory at Chickasha.

It was the Jackets’ first win over a varsity squad since beating Chisholm on Dec. 6. That was also the last time KHS scored more than 46 points against a varsity team.

However, coach Colby Connel was even more pleased with the Jackets on the other end of the floor.

“I could pick out four or five defensive highlights early in that game,” he said. “We didn’t have any of those against Anadarko (the Jackets’ previous opponent).”

Kingfisher had trouble containing Brody Ross as the 6-foot-4 junior put up 25 points.

However, no other Chick scored more than five points.

Kingfisher held Chicka-sha to just 15 points in the first half while building a nine-point lead.

The bulk of Kingfisher’s scoring was being done by Hayes White.

The junior guard started hot and stayed that way.

He scored 10 in the first quarter as part of an 18-6 run.

White had 16 by halftime and 25 by the end of the third quarter when KHS led 41-28.

The help got sprinkled in at different parts of the game.

Jhett Birdwell scored five in that big first quarter, then closed out the game with two fourth-quarter treys.

He had 11 on the night. Boomer Mendenhall came off the bench to knock down a pair of third-quarter treys for his six points.

It was a step in the right direction, said Connel, for an offense migrating back to more of a dribble-drive look.

White ended his night with 28 points. He didn’t miss a shot until the fourth quarter.

“Our box score still looks a lot like it did before, but we looked better overall,” Connel said. “We’ve got to continue to get the other guys more involved and get their contributions up as well.”

KHS improved to 5-4 while Chickasha dropped to 5-5.