Lomega bounces back from Friday’s heartbreaking defeat
BOUNCE BACK - Lomega’s Lady Raiders pose with their Class B Area I consolation championship trophy after beating Timberlake 50-33 in Woodward last Saturday. The Lady Raiders lost on a last-second shot Friday in the area finals, but are back in state aft
Kevin Lewallen has been a part of his share of heart-breaking losses.
Last Friday night’s ranks right up there.
“I’m not sure if I’ve felt as sick after a game as I did then,” said the Lomega girls coach.
Lewallen was referencing his team’s 48-47 loss to Boise City-Keyes in the Class B area championship game in Woodward.
Courtney Fox sank two free throws with seven seconds left to give the Lady Raiders a two-point lead and, most likely, a trip to the state tournament.
However, the unlikely happened when Boise City went the length of the court and tied the game on Katie Worm’s bucket with just over a second left. Making matters worse, Worm was fouled and made the free throw.
Her heroics sent Boise City-Keyes to state for the first time ever.
Lomega, meanwhile, needed to bounce back the next night in order to qualify, a task it failed to convert exactly a year ago.
History didn’t repeat itself in this case as Lomega beat Timberlake 50-33 for the area consolation championship.
“You never want to get to area and lose two in a row,” Lewallen said. “We definitely didn’t want it to happen two years in a row.”
A Cherokee Strip Conference foe, Timberlake had already played Lomega tough three times, including the previous week’s regional final.
Lomega won each of those meetings, but was tested each time.
This time around, though, the Lady Raiders managed to pull away.
They outscored Timber-lake 30-15 in the middle two quarters.
The Lady Raiders made six 3-pointers during that stretch, two each by Fox and Megan Dunigan.
Fox hit four in the game and finished with a team-high 15 points. Dunigan had three 3-pointers and scored 12.
Emma Duffy added eight points.
Fox scored 16 in Friday’s loss and Mady Meier added 11.
Lomega led 39-30 entering the fourth, but was outscored 18-8 in the final eight minutes.
The win earned the Lady Raiders a spot in the state tournament for the 28th time since consolidation.
Last year’s absence snapped a six-year streak in which Lomega had made it.
The second-ranked Lady Raiders (25-4) play No. 4 Red Oak (22-7) at 7 p.m. Thursday at State Fair Arena in the Class B quarterfinals.