KHS splits with Racers in road conference matchup

The shots weren’t falling with much frequency for the Kingfisher girls basketball team on Tuesday.

Fortunately, the frequency in which they dropped for the home team was much less.

Newcastle had just four field goals the entire game as KHS prevailed 26-14 in a Western Athletic Conference road game.

The Lady Jackets jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead and eventually pushed it to 11-0, but the offense went stagnant the rest of the night.

Adlee Friesen was a catalyst in the start as she scored six early points.

The freshman got her first career start as did fellow freshman Mattie Slezickey.

The Lady Jackets were without starter Abbie Myers, who missed the game due to illness.

Myers is the team’s leading rebounder, but Raegan Snider was able to take up much of that slack.

Snider had 12 rebounds while Friesen added five, but the entire team struggled to get shots to drop.

KHS was just 11 of 42 (26.2 percent) from the field.

That included going 1 of 15 (6.7 percent) from 3-point range.

Talor Mecklenburg had the lone trey, which came as part of the quick start.

Newcastle was able to cut Kingfisher’s lead to 11-8 late in the third quarter, but the Lady Jackets scored six straight points to extend their lead.

It just took nearly a quarter to do so.

KHS scored just three points in the second quarter and six in each the third and fourth.

It led 14-8 at the half and 20-12 entering the fourth.

Despite keeping it close, Newcastle couldn’t cut into its deficit. The Lady Racers were 4 of 31 (12.9 percent) for the game and also committed 20 turnovers.

Snider scored 11 points for KHS, giving her a double- double.

Friesen finished her night with eight. Mecklenburg scored three while Slezickey and Peyton Walker scored two apiece. Walker added six steals and three assists.

Jackets hang tough early For a quarter - and even much of the first half - there was reason for hope that Kingfisher could pull off the upset.

Newcastle quickly put an end to that hope in the second half.

The Racers shut down KHS for much of the second and third quarters to pull away for a 67-31 victory at home.

It was the fourth win in five games for Class 4A’s 20th-ranked Newcastle, which entered the night playing teams ranked in either 3A or 4A for five straight games.

It was Kingfisher, though, that got off to the solid start.

The Jackets scored first and took a 10-9 lead after a quarter.

In the second, a 5-0 spurt ending with Jaxson Willbanks’ putback saw Kingfisher leading 15-11 with 6:15 remaining in the first half.

That’s when it began to unravel.

Newcastle closed the second quarter on a 14-0 run to lead by 10 at the break.

The Racers then started the third quarter with 12 straight points.

The 26-0 run didn’t end until Jhett Birdwell’s three-point play at 3:04 of the third.

After outscoring KHS a combined 32-11 in the second and third quarters, Newcastle closed the game with a 26-10 fourth quarter.

Kingfisher had 33 turnovers, which led to 39 Newcastle points. A majority of the miscues (22) came in the second half when Newcastle was able to pull away.

The Racers had four players in double figures, led by Bobby Burrell’s 14 points. Alan Price scored 13, including making three of the Racers’ seven 3-pointers.

Birdwell led the Jackets with 10.

KHS also got six each from Jake Reagan and Matthew Mecklenburg.