KHS squads advance to Buckle semifinals
KHS SENIOR Jenna Mueggenborg blocks Oklahoma Christian Academy’s Caton Adair on a shot attempt during the first half of Thursday’s quarterfinal. KHS won the game 61-44 to advance to the semis. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.si
Kingfisher’s bid for a fourth consecutive Buckle of the Wheatbelt Invitational started Thursday with expected results.
The top-seeded Yellow-jackets cruised past Guymon 71-42 in the eighth and final game of the day at the APB.
That put KHS into Friday’s semifinal (after press time) against Christian Heritage Academy, which knocked off Harrah 65-46 in their quarterfinal.
Other quarterfi nal boys games saw second-seeded Guthrie topple Chisholm 58-27 and Oklahoma Christian Academy hold off Weatherford 51-47.
The Jackets won with their usual formula: Lots of points in the paint and holding the opponent to sub-40 percent shooting.
Kingfisher scored 38 points inside, a majority on drives and fast breaks.
Guymon, meanwhile, made only 38 percent of its shots.
The game was tied 4-4 midway through the first quarter before a quick 5-0 KHS burst forced a Tiger timeout.
It was the second quarter when Kingfisher bought itself more cushion.
A Guymon bucket brought the Tigers within 19-10, but they didn’t score again until KHS had built a 35-10 advantage.
The lead was 35-13 at the half.
Matthew Stone did a little bit of everything as Kingfisher improved to 14-0.
He scored 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out seven assists… all team highs.
Jarret Birdwell scored 17 points and Bijan Cortes 14.
The Jackets shot 50 percent overall, which included a 21 of 33 clip inside the 3-point line. KHS outscored Guymon 21-1 in points off turnovers and 15-4 in second-chance points.
The win was the 36th consecutive one for the boys program.
Lady Jackets
overcome size deficit
Oklahoma Christian Academy had a pair of 6-footers.
Kingfisher had…well, everyone else.
Despite the size disadvantage, KHS dominated the boards, overcame a slow start and eventually wore down the Lady Eagles in a 61-44 win in the quarterfinal round Thursday of the Buckle of the Wheatbelt Invitational.
Trying to reach the finals for a second straight year, the Lady Jackets were set to take on Harrah in Friday’s semifinal (after press time).
The other semifinal pitted two-time defending champ and top-seeded Weatherford against Guymon.
Weatherford dominated Douglass 82-8 while Guymon knocked off Guthrie 66-47 in other opening-round games.
OCA went at Kingfisher early with its post tandem of Brianna Wietelman and Sydney Duncan, both of whom stood taller than anything KHS could put on the floor.
They helped OCA build an early 11-5 lead before KHS began its comeback.
It was completed when Ally Stephenson knocked down a 3-pointer at the first quarter buzzer to tie the game at 16. The Lady Jackets never trailed again.
Part of Kingfisher’s success was on the boards. The Lady Jackets out-rebounded OCA 44-34, which included 20 offensive rebounds.
That led to 22 second-chance points.
The biggest culprit was Rayland Garner, who bulled her way to 16 total rebounds, half of which were on the offensive end.
Stephenson, the smallest player on the court, added nine total rebounds while Jenni Beebe grabbed seven.
Beebe led the team with 16 points while Green scored 14.
Green made two of her four treys in the fourth quarter to help put OCA away for good.
Stephenson chipped in seven points while Kina Frost, Britt Taylor, Melody Wilfong and Garner scored six apiece.
Wietelman finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Duncan was limited to three points and three boards for OCA.
Kingfisher upped its season record to 10-4.
Thursday scores
Girls
Weatherford 82, Douglass 8
Guymon 66, Guthrie 47 Harrah 51, Chisholm 41 Kingfisher 61, OCA 44
Boys
Kingfisher 71, Guymon 42
CHA 65, Harrah 46
OCA 51, Weatherford 47 Guthrie 58, Chisholm 27