Second-half surge leads to Lady Jacket blowout win
KHS SENIOR Abbie Myers shoots a jump shot at Blanchard. Myers scored 27 points in the Lady Jackets’ win as they turned a 5-point lead early in the third quarter to a blowout victory by game’s end. [Photo by Chris SImon/www.simon- sports-photos.smugmug
After a stellar start, the Kingfisher girls let Blanchard right back into Tuesday night’s ballgame.
The Lady Lions, with just five wins on the season, cut a 13-point first-quarter deficit down to 5 just moments into the second.
Then Kingfisher’s stellar play returned…and this time it didn’t fade away.
The Lady Jackets allowed only two second-half field goals as they pulled away for 70-26 victory.
The lead was as much as 16-3 in that first quarter as KHS fed Abbie Myers often and she responded just as often.
Myers scored 12 points in that first quarter, but the Lady Jacket offense bogged down for the next frame.
That allowed Blanchard to creep back into it.
The Lady Lions cut their deficit to 23-18 at one point and it was only 25-18 at the break.
Finley Lockwood opened the third quarter with a pair of free throws and the home team was again within just two possessions.
But Mattie Slezickey’s 3-pointer on the other end woke up the Lady Jackets.
It started a 16-0 run in the quarter and the lead was extended even more when Slezickey closed out the third with another trey.
That put KHS up 4822 and Blanchard didn’t recover.
Myers resumed her scoring with 8 more in the third.
She finished with 27 points.
Slezickey added 10 while Reese Roof and Taitym Walker scored 8 apiece.
Kendall Farrar scored 7 off the bench.
Sophomore Ela Hartman started the game and scored 3 points. She was playing with a mask on her face after having her nose broken the previous Friday at Elgin.
The Lady Jackets were 11-3 after the win.
Slow start dooms Jackets in loss to Lions
Seventh-ranked Blanchard shot better from beyond the arc, inside of it, at the free throw line and had more rebounds, among other stats.
The Lions led by 14 points less than halfway through the second quarter and had given up just one field goal at that point.
Still, KHS had a chance. The Jackets made a game of it on the road Tuesday, but couldn’t fully recover from their rough start in a 50-42 loss at Blanchard.
The home team got a quick start out of Emory Smalley and Cole Watkins as they combined for all 14 of their team’s points in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, KHS only scored 2 in the opening frame and trailed 18-4 with 5:19 left in the first half.
After a timeout, the Jackets responded, closing the half on an 8-2 run.
Michael Easley’s 3-pointer beat the buzzer to pull KHS within 20-12.
Once they got it there, the Jackets kept the game within reach, but couldn’t fully close the gap.
The closest they got was 27-23 on Hayes White’s bucket with 1:56 to play in the third quarter.
But then Blanchard answered with a 9-1 run of its own.
The Lions got two big treys out of Smalley in the fourth and also went 6 of 7 from the free throw line down the stretch to maintain their lead.
KHS shot just 34 percent for the game compared to 52 percent for Blanchard.
The Jackets were 5 of 14 from long range. Three of them came from Easley, who led the team with 17 points.
Cash Laird added 9 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out.
White finished with 10. The loss moved the 10thranked Jackets’ record to 11-3. Blanchard improved to 12-1.