Published: May 15, 2008 01:03 pm            

Howard sinks East with late three

Byng — When 6-2 Coalgate center Mallory Walker called East coach Brian Davis of Tupelo just minutes before the start of Wednesday night's Ada Evening News All-Star Classic to say she wouldn't be able to play in the girls contest because her mother was ill, Davis suddenly found himself with a undermanned, undersized roster made up of six backcourt players and forwards Ashlyn Stallings of Holdenville and Lorissa Skelton of Allen.

On the other bench, Gary Self of Vanoss not only had a full lineup of 10 of the area's best players, but he also had two of the state's top post players at his disposal in Lauren Whitworth of Ada and Konawa's Rehea Grant. On paper, the game was a mismatch — especially down low.

But in a little twist of irony, the smaller East outrebounded the West, 29-20, then saw the game decided in the final minutes by big shots from the West backcourt.

Kelsey Howard, Grant's teammate on Konawa's 27-1 Class 2A semifinal squad this season, drained a long 3-pointer from the top of the key off a feed from Grant with six seconds to play to give the West a tense 53-50 victory in one of the most memorable games in the 35-year history of the All-Star Classic, which brings together south central Oklahoma's best senior players each May for one last night in uniform.

Howard had eight of her 11 points in the second half to earn Most Valuable Player honors, and she teamed with Jessica Welch of Vanoss to score eight of the West's final 10 points and offset four 3-pointers — the last two from Skelton — by the East in the fourth quarter.

Skelton's first trey with 1:52 left gave the East just its second lead in 11 minutes (and its final lead of the night) at 47-45, then Welch drained a long 3-pointer from the right of the key just 10 seconds later to put the West back on top. Welch then fed Grant — who finished with a game-high 13 points — for a layup with 40 seconds to play before Skelton answered with another 3-pointer off an assist from Latta's Keisha Williams to tie the score for the final time at 50-all with 28 seconds left.

The West used up most of the remaining time working for an open shot before Grant passed out of the corner to Howard, who drained the game-winning shot from three or four feet beyond the arc.

Howard's clutch basket ended a back-and-forth contest that featured five ties and 16 lead changes (including four ties and 13 lead changes in the first half) before Whitley Sutton of Vanoss grabbed a steal and fed Byng's Cila Dunigan for a layup to put the West up 25-24 with 4:15 left in the third quarter. The East led for just 43 seconds the rest of the way (at 40-39 after a Stallings free throw with 4:45 to play and for 10 seconds after Skelton's first 3-pointer later in the final period) the rest of the way. The West, meanwhile, led by as many six points twice — the first time at 35-29 on a trey from the corner by Whitley Sutton of Vanoss with 23 seconds left in the third quarter and the final time at 37-31 on a putback of an offensive rebound by Wanette's Jessica Fullingim with 7:30 to play.

The East held the West to a pair of free throws by Whitworth (who scored all six of her points in the final period) over the three minutes following Fullingim's bucket and tied the score at 39-all on a 3-pointer by Calvin's Sierra Barnhart with 5:33 remaining.

After Stallings' free throw put the East in front for the first time in almost eight minutes, Whitworth capped a three-shot possession with a layup off a nice feed from Dunigan to put the West back in front with 4:30 left, and Whitworth's putback of an offensive rebound 25 seconds later made it 43-40.

Tupelo's Katie Campbell, who finished with eight points in the loss, hit four straight free throws over the next two minutes to offset a driving layup by Welch at the three-minute mark and trim the West lead to 44-45 before Skelton — almost exclusively a 3-point specialist as a freshman at Allen but one of the area's top rebounders the past two seasons — hit her first 3-pointer of the quarter to give the East its final lead of the night.

Neither team led by more than two points in a see-saw first half that ended with the East on top 21-19 after a 3-pointer by Stallings just 33 seconds before intermission. The basket ended a four-minute stretch to close the half in which the East managed just one other basket — a putback of an offensive rebound by Latta's Lacie Lawson at the 3:12 mark — and the West scored just five points — all by Grant, who bounced in a 3-pointer to put her club on top 17-15 with 3:48 left and added a layup off a nice feed from Konawa teammate Hilary Kuestersteffen to make it 19-18 just over two minutes later.

Grant had 10 points before the break to lead all scorers, and she finished with a team-high eight rebounds (seven in the first half) and a game-high five blocked shots to go with her 13 points.

The West tied the score at 21-all on a putback of an offensive rebound by Stratford's Courtney Evans with 6:40 left in the third quarter and took the lead 44 seconds later on a driving layup by Dunigan. A pair of Stallings free throws with 4:50 left in the period put the East back in front, but Dunigan's fast-break layup 35 seconds later gave the West the lead until Skelton drained her first 3-pointer in the game's final seconds.

A fast-break layup by Howard with 3:35 left in the quarter gave the West its biggest lead to that point at 29-24, then the East scored five of the next six points over the next 1:50 — the first two on a putback of an offensive rebound by Williams and the final two on a similar shot by Stonewall's Tesia Worcester — to pull to within a point at 30-29 before a Howard layup and Ashford's 3-pointer extended the lead to six with 23 seconds left in the quarter.

Howard and Grant were the only West players in double figures, but Ashford had a solid all-around game and finished with seven points, and Welch and Fullingim had five points apiece.

Stallings led the East with 11 points and played a solid floor game, and Skelton had nine points and also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds while going head-to-head with Grant and Whitworth all night. Barnhart finished with six points, Lacie Lawson of Latta had the East's other 3-pointer in the final period and finished with five points, and Williams had four points and pulled down five rebounds. Stonewall's Cherokee Brown added five points in the loss.

        

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