Lady Jacket run ends at state

As the final seconds began to wind down on Kingfisher’s season Tuesday morning, the tears began to fall from the eyes of the girls basketball players.

However, they had no chance of extinguishing the fire that had been re-lit under the Lady Jacket basketball program the previous week.

No. 4 Weatherford scored the final six points and escaped State Fair Arena with a 50-41 victory over KHS in the Class 4A quarterfinals.

It was the program’s 26th appearance at state, but first since 2009.

Nothing was easy about it.

Because of an unexpected dip into the consolation bracket coupled with inclement weather postponements, the state tournament game was Kingfisher’s sixth in nine days and seventh in the last 11.

“Our route to the state tournament was not how we envisioned it going,” said first-year head coach Taylor Young.

“But the last couple of weeks have been the definition of what our girls basketball program represents.”

She specified toughness, accountability, discipline, respect, hard work and competing.

“One of my goals coming in was to implement that back into this program,” she said.

They were on full display throughout Kingfisher’s run through the regional consolation bracket, area and against Weatherford.

The Lady Jackets’ legendary previous week that saw them win five elimination games in six days also saw them lose starting guard Emily Myers to an ACL injury and, among other things, the emergence of freshman Kadyn Daugherty.

But Daugherty joined Myers on the bench at the arena in street clothes after injuring her own knee, the severity of which is still unknown, in the area consolation final.

Still, the short-handed Lady Jackets went toe-to-toe with a team that beat them by 18 points just over a month before.

After falling behind 7-1, Addy Matthews scored five consecutive for Kingfisher to get the offense going.

KHS was down seven late in the quarter before closing on a 6-0 run thanks to a 3-pointer by Allison Green and a bump off the glass from freshman Raegan Snider.

Green got going early in the second quarter as well.

She nailed her second trey of the game at the 6:32 mark to tie it at 15-15 and then added free throws at 6:04 for a 17-15 KHS lead.

But then Kingfisher’s offense went quiet.

The only points over the final 6:00 of the half were Green’s free throws at 3:16.

The Lady Eagles’ 8-2 run gave them a four-point halftime advantage.

Weatherford scored the first four points of the second half to go up 27-19, but KHS still wouldn’t go away.

Snider again scored in the post and Kina Frost added four straight free throws as KHS cut its deficit to two points.

Snider scored seven points, grabbed six rebounds and had two big blocks in the game.

The free throws accounted for all four of the points for Frost, who had a career night in the game that qualified KHS for state.

They’re just two examples of Young’s “next man up” mentality that KHS has had to rely on during the playoff run.

“Losing Emily was a big blow to us, but I thought our role players like Makina, Kadyn and Raegan stepped up in a big way,” Young said.

She added that starters Peyton Walker and Matthews elevated their play during the run.

Walker didn’t score in the state game, but was Kingfisher’s primary ball-handler as she’s been all season. She was also tasked with guarding Addy Hoffman for much of the game.

Matthews scored eight points and had three rebounds.

She made three free throws with 42 seconds left in the third to get KHS within 35-30.

Snider struck again to open the third quarter when she drained a 3-pointer a minute in.

After that, it became the Ray Garner show.

The senior had been mostly quiet to that point, but started to take over.

Her bucket with 5:26 to play got the Lady Jackets within 40-35.

She then had a stretch where she scored six points and had two steals as KHS pulled within 44-41 with 1:21 to play.

Garner grabbed a Weatherford miss on its next possession, but the Lady Jackets lost possession as the ball went out of bounds.

Kingfisher had two more turnovers in the final 1:00 of the game.

Hoffman, Peyton Foster and Katen Daniel combined to score the final six points as Weatherford moved into the semifinals.

“I thought our game plan against Weatherford was better this time around,” said Young, whose team gave up 65 points to the Lady Eagles in their first matchup.

“We just missed too many opportunities throughout the game to capitalize on, whether it was free or giving up offensive rebounds.”

KHS was 19 of 26 from the foul line. Weatherford out-rebounded the Lady Jackets by just three boards, but did have 12 offensive rebounds.

Kingfisher also turned it over 20 times, which led to 23 Weatherford points.

Hoffman led all scorers with 17 points and she also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Hunter Bayless scored 13 for the Lady Eagles.

Green scored all 11 of her points in the first half for KHS. She also grabbed five rebounds.

Garner scored 10 of her 11 in the second half. Eight of those came in the fourth.

Garner pulled down six rebounds.

Garner, Green and Frost played their final games in Kingfisher uniforms.

They helped lead a team that finished the year 24-6 and got to state for the first time in 13 years.

“I am proud of our seniors and this group for helping lay the foundation for years to come,” Young said before taking a glance at the future.

“I’m excited about our young core that comes back and younger players that are coming up,” she said. “Our program is built on a continued standard of excellence. We will be back.”