Weatherford defense stymies Lady Jackets
EMILY MYERS (3) drives the lane against Weatherford during the teams’ regional final last Saturday. Weatherford won 45-30. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos. smugmug. corn]
Few teams can match the athleticism of the Kingfisher Lady Jackets.
Weatherford is one of them.
The fourth-ranked Lady Eagles held KHS to its second-lowest scoring total of the season to claim a 45-30 victory Saturday in their Class 4A regional championship game at the APB.
The loss sends KHS to the consolation bracket of this week’s area tournament at Enid High School. The Lady Jackets need three wins in as many days to advance to next week’s state tournament.
The first step is 1 p.m. Thursday when they play Perkins-Tryon.
Weatherford plays Holland Hall in the area championship game and a spot in the state tournament.
The Lady Eagles held KHS to 39 field goal attempts, 11 below its season average. They slowed down Kingfisher’s transition and cut off driving lanes.
The Lady Jackets shot just one free throw.
“Their defense is really good,” KHS coach Gerrett Spears said. “We tried to get to the paint, but their help defense was there and that forced us to shoot more 3’s.
“Their length and athleticism was some of the best we’ve seen all year.”
Still, Kingfisher was in the game well into the second half and led for a large portion of the first half.
Allison Green made two early 3-pointers as part of an early 9-5 advantage for KHS. The lead was 17-13 with less than 3:00 to play in the first half.
But soon Weatherford began to take over.
The Lady Eagles scored the final six points of the first half and outscored Kingfisher 12-2 in the third quarter.
Overall in the second and third quarters, Weatherford outscored Kingfisher 20-6.
A 12-0 run that stretched from the third quarter into the fourth saw Weatherford build a lead as big as 17 points.
Ashlyn Sage, a University of Arkansas signee, scored 17 points and had eight rebounds.
Five of those boards were offensive and part of 11 overall for Weatherford. The Lady Eagles had 11 second-chance points.
Green paced KHS with nine points and Emily Myers scored seven.
The 45 points was Weatherford’s third-lowest total of the season.
“Our defense was good for the most part,” Spears said.
Weatherford shot just 36.4 percent overall.
“It was just really tough to crack their defense on the other end.”
If Kingfisher wins Thursday it will play the Clinton-Harding Charter Prep winner at 1 p.m. Friday.
The Lady Jackets have met both of those teams this season and taken losses in both.