Published: January 12, 2009 03:55 pm      

Big Saturday for area teams

LINDSAY — Senior forward Molly McQuay muscled in for a layup with 45 seconds to play to give Latta the lead for good, and the Lady Panthers (No. 8 in Class 2A) improved to 13-3 on the season with the tense victory over 4A power Weatherford in Saturday’s championship game at the Lindsay Leopard Shootout.

Latta’s victory was part of a highly successful final day at several tournaments for area teams. Elsewhere on the girls side, Sasakwa lost a heartbreaker, 53-52, to Morris in the championship game at the New Lima Tournament, but Konawa raced past Davis, 65-34, to capture third place at the Wayne Tournament, and Byng and Coalgate were both winners at the Bethel CD Warehouse Classic, with the Lady Pirates beating Little Axe, 34-22, to win the consolation title and the Lady Wildcats keeping Henryetta winless with a 53-36 victory in the seventh-place game.

In boys action, Stratford rallied for a 66-63 victory over the OKC Knights to claim the championship for the fourth time in the last six years at the Alex Tournament; at Lindsay, the Latta boys captured the consolation title with a 61-49 victory; at Bethel, Coalgate was blown out by Heritage Hall, 80-48, in the third-place game, while Byng rebounded from an opening-round loss to Coalgate to claim the consolation crown with a 62-44 victory over Newkirk; and at Wayne, Konawa fell, 65-47, to OCA in the third-place contest.



GIRLS

At Lindsay Leopard Shootout

CHAMPIONSHIP

Latta 41, Weatherford 39

After McQuay’s basket, Weatherford attempted to play for the last shot, but a turnover with less than five seconds to play gave Latta the ball, and tournament MVP Skyler Jenson sank a free throw with 3.7 seconds left to wrap up her third straight double-digit scoring effort for the week and her 13th in 16 games this season.

The Lady Panthers won despite being shut out in the first quarter and blowing a seven-point second-half lead. Jenson finished with 11 points and six rebounds, and McQuay added 10 points and seven boards, and they joined point guard Caitlyn James on the all-tournament squad. Sara Miller snapped back from a foul-plagued evening in the semifinals to score eight points, and her basket with less than a minute to play put Latta up 38-37. Autumn Lawrence also wrapped up a solid week with seven points, including a pair of 3-pointers, for Latta, which hit 13-of-31 shots overall and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.

“It was a good defensive effort,” Latta coach David Tinkler said. “We just couldn’t get anything started in the first quarter, but it was our seventh game in 13 days, and that might have had something to do with it.”

Latta will visit Byng Tuesday night.



At New Lima Tournament

CHAMPIONSHIP

Morris 53, Sasakwa 52

Morris capped an impressive tournament run, scoring on a putback with five seconds left to cap a three-shot possession, and beat Sasakwa (No. 11 in Class B).

Jacklyn Nail drove to the basket for a layup with about a minute to play to put the Lady Vikings up 52-51, but Sasakwa (8-3) simply couldn’t grab the rebound during a frustrating final sequence.

“We blocked out pretty well the whole game, then that last possession was horrible,” Sasakwa coach Doug Isaacs said. “We got caught looking around.

“I could nitpick about some things...we didn’t block out on that last possession, and we missed 10 (of 28) free throws,” he said. “But we played pretty well. Morris is very talented, and we’re playing much better now than we did before Christmas.”

Nail finished with a team-high 15 points, and C. J. Palmer and Wynter Wind added 14 apiece, with Wind hitting both of Sasakwa’s 3-pointers in the contest and scoring 10 of her team’s 15 fourth-quarter points. Nikki Nail, the Lady Vikings’ leading scorer coming into the game, was held to a season-low two points.

Sasakwa returns to action Tuesday, hosting Mason.



At Wayne Tournament

THIRD PLACE

Konawa 65, Davis 34

Mandy Yellowfish scored a career-high 18 points and added five rebounds, and Konawa (7-5) placed three players in double figures en route to the easy victory.

Chelsa Porter and Chassy Foster had 11 points apiece, and Kassandra McClain added nine points, four assists and two of Konawa’s 11 steals.

“It was a weekend where we had to adapt to the officiating,” said Konawa coach Gordon Garner, whose club absorbed a tough semifinal loss to CCS Friday night. “We played all three games with at least three starters on the bench before halftime. I was proud of our effort against Davis.”

Konawa will visit Wewoka Tuesday night.



At Bethel CD Warehouse Classic

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP

Byng 34, Little Axe 22

Byng (4-6) shut out Little Axe in the first quarter in racing to a 10-0 lead and held a huge 27-7 rebounding advantage in a surprisingly easy victory that gave the Lady Pirates the consolation title.

Reba Sliger had nine points, Chelsea Gillum capped a solid tournament with eight points, and Meleaia Gray had her eight and ninth 3-pointers of the week for Byng, which cruised to win despite 16 turnovers.

We just got it into a slow-paced game where we wanted it to be,” Byng coach Matt Fike said. “Our effort defensively was really good. We turned it over too many times, but we made a statement that first quarter.

Byng returns to action Tuesday, hosting old rival Latta.



SEVENTH PLACE

Coalgate 53, Henryetta 36

Senior Jennifer Sandmann wrapped up a nice week with 14 points to lead three players in double figures as Coalgate evened its record at 6-6 with the easy victory over 0-10 Henryetta.

Sophomore center Alex Linam had her third straight double-digit scoring effort with 12 points, and Leslie Parker also had 12 for the Lady Wildcats, who will host Konawa Friday night for Homecoming.



BOYS

At Alex Tournament

CHAMPIONSHIP

Stratford 66, OKC Knights 63

Dalen Qualls scored 17 of his game-high 31 points in the second half, including 10 in the final period, as Stratford rallied from an eight-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to beat a Knights squad that had manhandled the Bulldogs in the 2008 tournament final.

Qualls, who didn’t play in the tournament opener and had 33 points in Stratford’s comeback win over Paoli in the semifinals, had 10 rebounds and eight assists to just miss a triple-double. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Matthew Knight -- who had a double-double of his own in the title game with 16 points and 10 rebounds -- and Dakota Russell.

Stratford (8-3) trailed 17-11 after one quarter, 39-31 at intermission and 56-48 entering the fourth quarter before outscoring the Knights, 18-7, over the final eight minutes.

“We did a horrible job defensively in the first half,” Stratford coach Mark Qualls said. “It was good that we came back; it was bad that we dug ourselves a hole two games in a row.

“The kids stayed after it and just kept plugging away,” he added. “I didn’t think we played nearly as well as we’re capable of in the tournament, but we found a way to win.”

Stratford has a big week coming up with home games against Elmore City (which suffered its only loss this season to Stratford in the finals of their conference tournament last month) Tuesday and Vanoss Saturday and a visit to Paoli Friday.

At Bethel CD Warehouse Classic



CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP

Byng 62, Newkirk 44

Byng’s senior 1-2 punch of point guard Jared Walker and center Dakota Abbott combined for 39 points to wrap up a huge tournament performance in which they accounted for more than half their team’s point total in the three games.

Walker, who averaged 26 points per game for the tournament, had 23 Saturday, and Abbott, who averaged 17 for the week, added 16 for Byng (7-3). The Pirates led just 30-22 at the break before outscoring Newkirk (1-9), 32-22, in the second half.



At Wayne Tournament

THIRD PLACE

OCA 65, Konawa 47

Konawa (1-8) had no answer for OCA sharpshooter Hans Thun, who had eight 3-pointers and 38 points to almost single-handedly equal the Tigers’ scoring output.

Rope Booth and Kelly O’Dell both wrapped up solid weeks for Konawa with 17 and 14 points, respectively, and they each had seven rebounds.

Dylan Terry had six points, five rebounds and four steals, and point guard Zac Harjo hit one of the Tigers’ two 3-pointers and finished with five points, seven assists and four steals for the Tigers, who turned the ball over 25 times Saturday after turning it over 31 times in the semifinals.

“I thought we played pretty well even in the two games we lost,” Konawa coach Gordon Garner said. I thought the boys improved through the tournament.”

At Lindsay Leopard Shootout



CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP

Latta 61, Dibble 49

Sophomore Reed Johnson poured in 22 points and Wacey Henderson added 19, and Latta, despite injuries to three starters, rolled to the consolation championship.

Johnson was 7-for-13 and hit five 3-pointers, and Henderson was even better, finishing 9-for-13, and each grabbed five rebounds.

Point guard Salyer Roebuck had a career-high 10 assists to go with three points for the Panthers, who lost junior Tyler Reeves to an ankle injury early in the game and didn’t have center Steven Reed available at all because of an injury. Henderson also played on a bum ankle.

Tanner Wear capped a solid tournament with 11 points for Latta (6-8), which led 24-14 after one quarter and, after being outscored 26-18 in the middle two periods, finished the game on a 19-9 run over the final eight minutes.

We got off to a really good start and finished it good,” Latta coach Donnie Husband said.

“Overall, with the adversity we faced, we showed a lot of charTacter and came away with a good win. It was nice to win three out of four this week.î

Latta will travel to Byng Tuesday to face a 7-3 Pirate club coming off a consolation title at the Bethel CD Warehouse Classic.