Third quarter boosts Cashion to area victory

A third-quarter explosion helped get the Cashion girls basketball team one step closer to the state tournament.

The Lady Wildcats scored 30 points in eight minutes after halftime to pull away from Oklahoma Christian Academy in an eventual 73-59 victory in a Class 2A area consolation quarterfinal at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford.

The win put Cashion within two victories of state. The first step came Friday afternoon (after press time) against Stratford.

After falling behind 30-25 at halftime, Cashion rode the hot hand to a 19-point advantage in the third.

“The first half was a struggle for us,” said coach Andrea Taylor. “We have long droughts that hurt us, but luckily we had that huge quarter.”

The deficit turned into a lead as Lauren Lamb, Cedar Stewart and Kaitin Taylor all had huge quarters.

Lamb scored 11 points, Stewart 10 and Taylor seven as they combined to knock down four 3-pointers.

OCA couldn’t recover.

Thats because Neeley Tilley-Bedick took care of business in the fourth to go along with her huge first half.

Tilley-Bedick went 5 of 6 from the foul line and scored seven points as Cashion kept pace with OCA in the fourth to maintain its lead.

Tilley-Bedick helped keep the Lady Wildcats afloat in the first half.

She scored 13 in the half and finished with a gamehigh 22.

Lamb scored all 15 of her points in the second half.

Stewart had 12 of her 14 in the second half and Taylor ended her night with 10, all in the second half.