One way or another, history bound to repeat for Lomega
Lomega is in familiar territory and history is definitely going to repeat itself.
The question is: Will it be the history that haunts the Lady Raiders from a year ago, or the more successful trips to area in the years prior?
The Lady Raiders put together a 51-47 come-from-behind win last Saturday to beat a stubborn Timberlake squad for the third time this season.
This time it was for a Class B regional championship at Pioneer-Pleasant Vale High School.
“We got lucky, because we weren’t at our best,” said coach Kevin Lewallen, whose second-ranked Lady Raiders are 24-3 as they enter this week’s area championship against No. 8 Boise City.
The two will play for a spot at the state tournament on the line at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Woodward.
The loser will get another shot at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Lomega was ranked second in the state and playing in the area championship a year ago, but was upset on consecutive nights by Forgan and Leedey and missed out on the state tournament for the first time in seven years.
“We have no desire for that to happen again,” Lewallen said.
His team nearly found itself battling through the consolation bracket as it trailed Timberlake by seven points with 5:45 to play.
A minute later, however, Lomega led by a point.
Emma Duffy, playing on a banged-up ankle, started the run with a pair of free throws.
Freshman Hensley Eaton followed that up with a steal and a three-point play.
Eaton swiped another steal, which led to a 3-pointer in transition by Duffy.
Deficit gone.
“After that, they had to chase us around and they’re not built for that,” Lewallen said.
Courtney Fox also had two big fourth-quarter buckets as Lomega held Timberlake to one field goal and outscored it 15-9.
Duffy finished her night with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Fox scored 17, including 11 in the first half.
Eaton scored six.
“Those three came up big for us, whether on offense or defense,” Lewallen said.
Boise City enters area with a 24-2 record. Only one loss - Texhoma - is to an Oklahoma team.
However, the Lady Wildcats have played just four teams ranked in the top-20 and none in the top-10.
“It’s tough to tell just going off of scores because of that, but I’ve seen plenty of film on them and they’re good,” Lewallen said. “They’ve got some size, some athleticism and some girls who can shoot.”
Raiders eliminated
by Buffalo
Lomega’s boys saw their season derailed Saturday in a 43-41 loss to Buffalo in the regional consolation championship.
“I really thought we played really well,” said coach Justin Edsall.
“It was probably the best defensive game we’ve played all year. We just didn’t make enough shots and we missed too many free throws.”
The ninth-ranked Raiders didn’t have a fourth-quarter field goal and went just 2 of 6 from the foul line during that stretch. They were 5 of 16 for the game.
Still, they were in it until the end.
The Raiders missed a layup with 10 seconds to play that would have tied the game.
The ball was knocked out of bounds by Buffalo, but the Raiders again failed to connect on the inbounds play.
After Buffalo missed the front end of a one-and-one, Karson Glazier’s desperation 3-pointer just missed its mark to the left.
Brock Mowery led the team with 13 points.
Riley Lumpkin scored 11 and Noah Snowden 10.
Lomega had avoided elimination Friday by knocking out Timberlake 53-47.
“We played really well in the regional,” said Edsall, whose season ends with a 17-11 record.
“We just never should have put ourselves in that position by playing so poorly in our district championship.”