Kiowa girls coach James Pannell picked up the phone, looking for someone to play.

Kevin Lewallen answered.

That exchange led to Tuesday’s rare regular-season showdown between Lomega, Class B’s best in the west, and Kiowa, quite possibly the class’ top team in the east.

No. 1 Lomega blitzed the visiting fourth-ranked Cowgirls in the second half to pull away for an 86-44 victory, handing them their first loss of the season.

However, the story was more that the game took place than its outcome.

“We feel we have the opportunity to be a good ball club and we haven’t been able to play all the games we want or need to play,” said Pannell, whose Kiowa team entered 5-0 and has already sat out a pair of two-week quarantines.

The Cowgirls reached the Class A state tournament a year ago and return three starters for a team that dropped down a class this season.

“We needed a ball game and we wanted to play someone good,” Pannell continued.

Lomega fit the bill on all accounts.

The defending state champs were 4-0, but had played just twice since Nov. 10. To date, six games had already been canceled or postponed.

“We need to play some games,” Lewallen said. “So we were definitely willing.”

Kiowa agreed to make the three-and-a-half hour drive to northwest Oklahoma for a JV and varsity girls games only (Lomega also claimed the JV battle).

“There aren’t many benefits to the coronavirus, but this is one of them,” Pannell said. “A game like this wouldn’t have happened in a regular year.”

And Kiowa hung in there early.

Chloe Crawley knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Cowgirls a 5-3 lead 78 seconds in the game.

Lomega countered with an 11-0 run that saw Sydni Walker score twice off inbounds plays while Adysen Wilson’s steal and assist to Hensley Eaton capped the spurt.

Wilson scored half of Lomega’s 16 second-quarter points, including a 3-pointer at the 6:20 mark for a 20-8 lead.

Emma Duffy’s rebound and coast-to-coast driving layup gave the Lady Raiders a 17-point advantage with 33 seconds left in the half.

Despite the comfortable margin, Lewallen wasn’t happy.

“If we could have knocked down some shots, we could have put them away already,” he said at halftime. “We’re not in game shape right now and our shooting is showing it.”

That trend reversed itself in the third quarter.

While Kiowa more than doubled its scoring output from the entire firsthalf, the Cowgirls saw their deficit grow by an additional 19 points.

That’s because Lomega buried seven 3-pointers and scored 34 points in the eight-minute span.

Kiowa scored quickly to start the half, but Lomega went on a 14-0 run in just two minutes.

Wilson, Eaton and Duffy made two 3-pointers each in the quarter.

Wilson scored 14 of her eventual game-high 28 in the frame.

The barrage didn’t stop in the fourth as five more 3-pointers found their mark for Lomega.

Two of those came from Duffy, who had five overall and scored 21 points.

Eaton contributed 14 points and Walker scored 11.

That quartet had well-rounded games.

Duffy pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

“That was huge for us because their ability to rebound was something that worried me,” Lewallen said.

She also had four steals.

Wilson grabbed seven rebounds, seven steals and added five assists.

Eaton combined six assists with four steals while Walker contributed six rebounds.

Lomega was 15 of 33 from 3-point range and six different Lady Raiders made at least one.

“We can be pretty good when the shots go in,” Lewallen said. “We’ve got several different girls who can make it happen.”

Crawley led the Cowgirls with 14 points.

Kye Stone, the Cowgirls’ standout post player, struggled much of the night, but finished with 10 points.

“After watching them on film, I was definitely worried,” Lewallen said. “They do some things and have some players that can hurt you.

“But we put some pressure on them and shot it really well in the second half. We may not shoot it like that every night, but we are capable.”

Despite the lopsided loss, Pannell said his team gained something other than seven hours in a bus.

“There’s some things we could have and should have done better,” he said. “But we talk about the standard in our program and this was a great game for us because Lomega is the standard . So, if this is the standard, now we know what we have to do every day to get to that point.”