Jackets claim 3rd straight conference crown
Everything, it seemed, was working for Kingfisher except the 3-point shot Saturday night in its quest for another conference championship.
Despite missing all but one of their 11 attempts from beyond the arc, the Yellowjackets had more than enough in their arsenal to down Washington 64-46 in the Canadian Valley Conference title game in Lindsay.
“They got some stuff on us late, but our defense didn’t give them much of anything all night,” said KHS coach Jared Reese. “We didn’t shoot the 3 very well, but from everywhere else we were really good.”
The Jackets were, indeed.
KHS was 18 of 23 on two-point attempts and 25 of 26 from the free throw line.
That included making their final 24 attempts.
Bijan Cortes scored the game’s first two points off a steal on the press and Kingfisher led the entire way.
The lead was 30-14 at halftime and grew to as many as 26 points early in the fourth quarter before Washington rallied for some late points.
KHS beat Washington by “only” seven points last month in a regular season game on the Warriors’ home court. The lead was down to two points in the closing minutes.
“I felt like we dominated them most of the game this time,” Reese said. “They still tried to hold it on us some, but we did a better job of working around it.”
Trey Green paced the Jackets with 17 points. He was 9 of 10 from the foul line.
Jett Sternberger contributed 13 points. He and Green had five rebounds apiece.
Cortes scored 11 and added three assists.
Matthew Stone scored eight points while Reece Lafferty added seven.
The win upped Kingfisher’s record to 20-1.
It was the Jackets’ 14th straight win and it marks the third straight year KHS has hit the 20-win mark.
It’s also the third straight year for the Jackets to win the conference championship.
Stolz double-double
propels Lady Jackets
Katelyn Stolz took care of the inside.
Brooklyn Whipple took care of the outside.
Together, they helped Kingfisher take care of Lindsay.
Stolz put together a double-double and Whipple was almost perfect from beyond the arc as the Lady Jackets smashed Lindsay 61-31 Saturday in the Canadian Valley Conference Playoff in Lindsay.
The win snapped a two-game losing skid and got KHS within one game of .500 entering Monday night’s regular-season finale (see related story).
“Lately, even in our wins, we had a stretch that would really hurt us, whether we’d get behind early or fail to put a team away,” said KHS head coach Jay Wood.
“We didn’t let that happen this time.”
The Lady Jackets scored the first three points of the game and never trailed. They led 34-17 at halftime and when Lindsay outscored them by two points in the third, the Lady Jackets closed out the game on an 18-3 run.
Stolz led KHS with 22 points and 12 rebounds. She added three steals.
The senior forward was 9 of 14 from the field and had three of Kingfisher’s 14 offensive rebounds.
The offensive boards helped KHS outscore Lindsay 14-2 in second-chance points.
Kingfisher outscored Lindsay 24-14 in the paint as well.
On the outside, Whipple was 4 of 5 from 3-point range. She finished with 12 points.
Whipple made all but two of Kingfisher’s 3-pointers, with the others belonging to Hanna Matthews.
The junior guard finished her night with seven points, four rebounds and five assists.
The game was the first for KHS this year without sophomore forward Britt Taylor, who injured her knee a week earlier against Fairview.
It was revealed last week that Taylor tore her ACL and was lost for the season.