‘Cats sweep Lone Grove at hoops homecoming
Last Tuesday night was Homecoming for Madill Wildcats basketball, and in a night that saw Homecoming Queen Kristen Chapa break her crown in half to share with candidate Ashlyn Arnold, the Wildcats set the stage for the ceremony by sweeping the Lone Grove Longhorns in both contests.
The Lady Wildcats opened up the action. Tough defense was the order of the day early, as Madill held the Lady Longhorns to a single field goal by senior Anna Black. Madill junior Jayden Weiberg had Madill’s first eight points with two threes and another bucket, but struggles from the line held Madill back, and they only led at the break 11-6.
The Lady Longhorns’ offense came to life in the second quarter, while Madill was plagued by early turnovers. Four early turnovers gave Lone Grove its first lead, 11-10, only a minute into the period. Madill stayed cold from the field, hitting only two shots from the field the entire period, but Weiberg kept the Lady Wildcats in the game from the line, hitting 4 of her 5 free throws, as well as a shot in the closing seconds, but Lone Grove led 20-19 at half.
The Lady Wildcats cranked up their defense in the third quarter. After the teams traded the lead back and forth early, junior Mariana Mendez started filling up the box score, grabbing offensive rebounds and scoring six points in the quarter. Mendez really shone on defense, however, with three steals on three consecutive Lone Grove possessions. That effort allowed Madill to start to pull away a little, but Lone Grove junior Maili Coe hit a long three-pointer to close out the quarter, with Madill leading by three, 30-27.
Coe opened up the fourth quarter tying up the game with another three.
The ladies went back and forth, both teams opting for a full-court press, and defensive intensity dominated the period.
With 31 seconds left in regulation, Madill sophomore Abbie Lambertsen tied it back up at 39-all with a jumper off a tough drive from the wing, but she was unable to convert the three-point play from the line.
The Lady Longhorns turned over the ball again on the inbound play, but Lambertsen’s runner at the horn to win was off-target, and the game went to overtime tied 39-39.
Both teams were cold from the field in overtime, as neither team was able to score a single field goal in the extra frame.
Both defenses repeatedly forced turnovers, but the key to the game turned out to be at the line.
Sophomores Lambertsen and Joslyn Stumblingbear and eventual homecoming queen Kristen Chapa each hit two free throws in overtime, while the Lady Longhorns went three of four from the line.
Lone Grove freshman Elizabeth Howard missed a wideopen layup, and senior Lydia Saavedra missed a three as time expired, and the Lady Wildcats celebrated a 45-42 overtime victory.
Weiberg led all scorers with 19 points, the only Lady Wildcat with double digit points.
Saavedra led the Lady Longhorns with 14. The victory gave the Lady Wildcats a 10-7 record on the season.