Tuttle girls knock off KHS in top-10 showdown
Marissa Sandlin didn’t score a point for fifthranked Tuttle in the first half.
Her second-half performance lifted her team to a huge road win.
Sandlin’s three-point play with 1:21 left in the game Tuesday proved to be the catalyst in a 40-37 victory at Kingfisher.
Addy Matthews had just buried her first and only 3-pointer of the game with 1:45 left to give KHS a 3635 advantage.
Up eight at one point in the second half, Kingfisher eventually trailed Tuttle by as many as five in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Jackets erased it and took their first lead of the quarter on Matthews’ trey.
But Sandlin had her own answer.
Her three-point play put Tuttle on top 38-36 and the Lady Tigers didn’t lose the lead.
But that almost wasn’t the case.
Matthews made one of two free throws with 57 seconds to go to get 10thranked KHS within 38-37.
The Lady Jackets pressed Tuttle and forced the Lady Tigers to call a timeout. Still pressing, Kingfisher forced a turnover near mid-court.
As Matthews tried to prevent going backcourt, the ball was knocked out of her hands and right into the those of Samantha Teague, who was able to score a layup with 38 seconds to play.
Mattie Slezickey’s would-be game-tying 3-pointer fell just short.
Kingfisher got two offensive rebounds over the next five seconds, but eventually the ball was knocked out of bounds off Abbie Myers and Tuttle was able to run out the clock.
Kingfisher’s zone defense gave Tuttle fits most of the night.
The visitors didn’t score until the latter part of the first quarter.
KHS led 6-0 early and 22-16 at halftime.
It grew to eight points early in the third before Tuttle closed the quarter on an 11-2 run.
Allie Rehl did most of Tuttle’s scoring early as she had 12 of her 16 points by halftime.
Sandlin scored all 11 of her points in the second half.
The Lady Tigers made just 1 of 12 from 3-point range and turned it over 19 times.
But KHS couldn’t capitalize offensively. The Lady Jackets were14 of 41 from the field.
Myers led the team with 10 points. She had eight by halftime.
She also led the team with seven rebounds and had three steals.
Slezickey came off the bench to score nine while Matthews finished with eight and Talor Mecklenburg six.
The loss was the second straight for KHS, which dropped to 1-2.
Tigers Complete Sweep Lights-out shooting by the visitors and an array of turnovers by the home team allowed Tuttle to complete a sweep on Tuesday.
The Tigers made 14 3-pointers and scored 42 points off Kingfisher turnovers en route to a 76-43 win at the APB.
The Jackets were in it much of the first half despite the Tigers knocking down nine treys.
Chad Everett and Richie Overcash made four apiece in the first two quarters.
Still, the Jackets stayed within striking range.
Coleman Gilles scored six in the first quarter when KHS was down just 13-12.
Jake Reagan added six and Ethan Karcher provided a spark off the bench with four points in the second.
But the Jackets couldn’t keep up.
Overcash scored 14 points in the quarter and Everett eight as the Tigers extended their lead to 10 points.
Overcash didn’t cool off. He opened the third quarter with three more 3-pointers as Tuttle went on a 22-10 run, extending its lead to 60-38 by quarter’s end.
Overcash ended his night with 30 points while Everett scored 21.
The Tigers were 14 of 28 from 3-point range.
The Jackets were led by Gilles and Jhett Birdwell, who scored 10 apiece. Birdwell also led the team with six boards.
Reagan finished with eight and Karcher six.
Kingfisher had 34 turnovers in the contest, which led to several easy buckets for Tuttle, which had 31 points in transition.
The loss dropped the Jackets to 1-5 on the season.