After being dealt a tough overtimelossinthesemifinals of their own Madill Winter Classic, Coach Eric Holmes’ Lady Wildcats bounced back for a pivotal 50-43 win over Class 4A rival Purcell in claiming third place.
Madill finished off a 3-1 opening week with the lone loss being a narrow 4442 verdict to Durant that needed extra time to decide. The Lady Wildcats toppled Whitesboro,Texasinastrong 66-28 opening victory before dismantling Dickson by an unbelievable 66-1 margin in the tournament opener.
A pair of Lady Wildcats received All-Tournament recognition with Elexis Holmes and Arlette Andrade named to the prestigious unit.
Following another important 4A matchup with Lone Grove this week, the Lady Wildcatswillbebackhomeon Tuesday for what should be another big Marshall County battle with Kingston.
In the 66-1 romp, the Lady Wildcats took control from the opening tipoff and never let the Lady Comets up while cruising to the win.
Holmes poured in 26 points to lead three players in double figures. Luci Douglas contributed 17 with Andrade chipping in 11. They also picked up eight from La’Miyah Brown and two apiece by Karma Williams and Chloe Miller.
The semifinals was a virtual dogfight as Madill battled toe-to-toe with the 5A Lady Lions.
Durant led 16-11 after one period but the Lady Wildcats got five from Holmes in the second to lead an 11-6 scoring run that knotted the score at 22.
Madillhadworktodoafter trailing 35-27 at the end of three stanzas with Douglas pumping in six in the fourth along with five from Holmes as they rallied to tie it at 42 and force overtime.
After getting the ball to start the extra session, the Lady Wildcats held possession forthe final shot but were unable to get what they were looking for and committed a foul with just 0.8 seconds on the clock. Durant hit both free throws for the win to punch its championship ticket.
Holmes tallied 20 points to lead all scorers. Douglas posted nine, Andrade had sevenandBrownroundedout the scoring with two.
The Lady Wildcats had to answer from an early deficit again in the Purcell contest astheywerebehind13-6after a rough offensive start in the first stanza.
Madill got it rolling in the second frame, taking a 21-19 halftime lead thanks to 15 second quarter points. They kept the offense rolling after the break as well with an 18-point third to extend the advantage, which they maintained the rest of the way.
Holmes tossed in nine of the third quarter points and added another seven in the fourth on the way to a gamehigh offensive total of 27.
Brown ended with nine, Andrade scored eight while Douglas, Williams and Ireland Groeber all contributed two.