OKLAHOMA CITY – Reaching the state tournament for the first time in school history, the Madill Lady Wildcats gave topranked Lincoln Christian all they wanted before ending the season with a 45-38 loss in the Class 4A basketball opener at State Fair Arena last week.
While most all statistical categories were virtually the same, the difference in the game came down to the free throw line where the Lady Bulldogs connected on 14 of 20 attempts. Madill only had two charity toss opportunities and made both.
The Lady Wildcats, whose only two losses in their final 26 games of the season came to state finalists Lincoln Christian and Douglass, end the year with a spectacular 26-3 record and a wealth of experience that should spur them once again next season.
“We played a great game,” head coach Eric Holmes commented. “There was a lot of heavy contact, especially in the second half, and we didn’t get many foul calls to go our way. We only went to the free throw line once the entire game. You just have to play through it and we’ll learn from it in the future.
“I think we used a lot of energy jumping out to the big lead early but were still right in the game with a chance to win it in the fourth quarter. Lincoln Christian had been state runner-up two seasons in a row before this one so they have a bunch of girls that had been here several times before. They had the experience that most of our players were getting for the first time. They were one of two teams that beat us in the playoffs and they both met in the championship game.”
Madill showed few butterflies early on in its first outing ever at The Big House, bursting out of the gate with a flurry of three pointers from La’Miyah Brown and Elexis Holmes as they quickly grabbed a double-digit advantage. Despite being just a freshman Holmes accounted for nine points in the opening stanza alone.
Lincoln Christian narrowed the gap to 17-10 at the end of one period and 24-21 at halftime as theLady Wildcats sank 37 percent of their shot attempts before intermission. That number cooled to just 20 percent after the break as the Lady Bulldogs nailed 50 percent from the field themselves over the same stretch.
The eventual state titlists snagged a 32-30 through three frames and knotted the score with an E’Niyah Holmes basket early in the fourth before going ice cold. With Lincoln Christian threatening to completely pull away, Madill came up with a pair of critical treys from Brown to remain within striking distance down the stretch.
“We just could never get back in front,” Holmes said of his youthful squad. “Making history this year was a big deal. Now that we’ve gotten over that state tournament hump, we are looking for even bigger things. Hopefully this run will help us get more respect in the coaches’ rankings. I felt like we were a Top 5 team all season but could never move up much, I guess because people didn’t see us play very much down here in southeastern Oklahoma.
“I want to try and get seen more and move up in the rankings. I feel like we will be a Top 5 in preseason next year with four starters coming back and another that couldn’t play this year. We should have three six footers.”
Brown nailed three treys and netted 13 points to lead the offensive charge as Elexis Holmes also contributed 12 points and seven rebounds. E’Niyah Holmes narrowly missed a double-double, ending with nine points and team-leading 10 boards. Arlette Andrade also added four points.