Defense pushes Lomega past Latta
Strong finish has Lady Raiders in Mid-America Classic semifinals
Defense pushes Lomega past Latta
PAIGE WHEELER (above) shoots over a Latta defender on Monday. The senior scored 5 points while Reagan Snowden (left) poured in 14 points to go with 11 rebounds as the Lady Raiders defeated Latta 48-41. [Photos by Chris Simon/www.simon- sports-photos.smugm
Half of the teams in the semifinals of the Bertha Teague Mid-America Classic reside in Kingfisher County.
Lomega assured that late Monday night with a 48-41 victory over 2A’s second-ranked Latta in the final game of the day at the Kerr Activities Center in Ada.
The win put the Lady Raiders into Tuesday’s semifinals (after press time) against top-seeded Washington, the No. 1 team in Class 3A.
Earlier in the day, Kingfi sher downed Howe to also make the semifinals. (See related story).
Both Lomega and Latta struggled from the floor for much of the game.
After scoring quickly, Lomega went several minutes without a point in the first and then was held scoreless for the first six minutes of the second.
But Latta couldn’t capitalize. The Lady Panthers had their own scoring droughts and were held to 27 percent shooting in the first half.
“You won’t hear me say this very often, but we may struggle some on offense, but we can be pretty good on defense,” said Lomega coach Kevin Lewallen after the game. “With certain lineups, we can be pretty big inside and out and that can give teams problems.”
That lineup included senior Kinsley Fisher inside, which allowed Lewallen to put the lengthy Reagan Snowden at the top of the zone.
Fisher, off the bench, had 3 rebounds and a block and plus-8 rating in her minutes on the floor.
Lomega led 9-3 late in the first quarter before Latta’s Jayse Smith closed the frame with a trey and opened the second quarter with another to tie the game.
The Lady Raiders stayed stagnant offensively until Hadley Ott made a 3-pointer at the 2:00 mark for the first points of the quarter.
That loosened the rim somewhat as Jackie Penaran followed with another and then Bree Yost’s free throws with 25 seconds to go sent Lomega to the locker room up 17-16.
Yost carried it over into the third.
She scored 5 straight to put Lomega up 22-16 with 5:22 to go in the quarter.
A timeout woke up Latta, which went on a 17-6 run to close out the third.
That included two treys by Kelby Parnacher, who made four in the game.
Latta’s five-point deficit was a five-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
Lomega came roaring back to start the fourth and Snowden played a big part.
The sophomore made a 3-pointer early in the quarter and then her putback of a missed Lomega free throw with 3:04 to play gave her team a 41-38 lead.
It was a sign of more to come.
But first, and after Latta cut Lomega’s lead to 1, Hadley Ott made her third 3-pointer of the game for a 44-40 lead with 1:58 left.
The lead was 44-41 to go when Snowden struck again.
She grabbed the rebound off yet another missed Lomega free throw and scored the putback.
This time she was fouled and made her own charity shot for a 47-41 advantage with 51 seconds to go.
Latta never recovered. Snowden scored 14 points and also had 11 rebounds.
Ott finished with 10 while Aliana Lawson scored 8 and grabbed a game-high 13 boards.
Lomega out-rebounded Latta 40-31.
The Lady Raiders limited Latta to 29.2 percent shooting overall.
Parnacher led her team with 15 points. Jayse Smith scored 10 as Latta’s seven- game win streak was snapped.
Lomega won despite shooting 35.7 percent (15 of 42) overall and making only 12 of 25 free throws. The Lady Raiders were just 4 of 13 in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t do a lot of things very well, but we did play pretty good defense,” Lewallen said after his team moved to 12-0. “We did that well enough to win.”