Just Try to Keep Up
Lomega runs Paden ragged in regional title victory
LOMEGA JUNIOR Sydni Walker shoots over a Coyle defender during a regional semifinal. Walker had 10 points in Monday’s regional championship win over Paden. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos.smugmug.com]
As many teams have done in the past, Paden was able to keep up with Lomega for a quarter.
And, as most other teams eventually discover, it’s just not a sustainable game plan.
No. 1 Lomega put itself within one win of the state tournament Monday by running past No. 12 Paden 94-61 in a Class B regional championship at Coyle.
The Lady Raiders get their first crack at state at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the area championship game at Stroud. They’ll play No. 5 Varnum, which edged Earlsboro 50-47 in their regional title tilt Monday.
The area game was originally slated for Friday, but the OSSAA on Tuesday announced postponements due to forecasted inclement weather this week.
Paden scored 16 points in the first quarter as it matched most of Lomega’s runs and trailed by just two points.
“We were pretty confident they couldn’t keep that up for four quarters,” Lomega coach Kevin Lewallen said. “They’ve got some size that can hurt you, but we felt if we got them going up and down, we could negate it.”
That started in the second quarter and kicked into overdrive in the third.
Paden managed 15 more points in the second quarter, but was staring at a 15-point deficit.
The Lady Pirates were blitzed by Abby Swart.
The sophomore nailed three 3-pointers and scored 16 points in the second quarter alone.
She had 24 at the half. On top of that Darcy Roberts had 14 points.
In the third, Lomega kept pushing and outscored Paden 27-9.
Sydni Walker poured in all 10 of her points during the run and Hensley Eaton six more.
By game’s end, Swart had scored 26 and Roberts 20.
Eaton finished the contest with nine as Lomega improved to 21-5.
The Lady Raiders got their 20th win on Friday when they thumped Coyle 75-32 in the regional semifinal.
Up eight after a quarter, Lomega outscored Coyle 30-7 in the second.
Swart had 17 of those 30 points and Eaton eight.
Eaton finished with 10 and Swart 19.
Roberts led the way with 23.
She nailed five 3-pointers, three of them in the first quarter when she scored 11 points.
Lomega made a combined 23 3-pointers in the two regional games.