The Regional Championship Trophy should be named the “Lady Redskin” award. For the third season in a row Coach Chad Rumer and his team are headed to the Area Tournament following the Kingston’s 62-52 win over Comanche. What makes this win so enjoyable was the results of the game at Comanche 15 days ago. If you remember the Lady Redskins were up by 1 with 1.1 seconds to play. Inbounding the ball from half court, a long pass into the lane the girl turned and threw up the shot and it went in.
No one expected this would be anything different. In fact in felt like a flash back when Danna Wagnon picked up her second foul at the 4:00 mark of the first quarter. The defense always sets the pace but the Lady Redskins all wanted in the scoring column early on. Pressley McKnight had 2, Britt Henderson had 5. Wagnon in the first four minutes had two field goals and two free throws for 6 points. But Kassie Bailey got the fans on their feet as she hit a long three pointer that cut the net as the buzzer sounded. Prior to that, she took another hard charging foul in the paint. She was also 3 of 4 from the line for a total of six points. Rumer was happy with a 19 to 12 lead.
The ladies broke the huddle and went right back to work early in the second.
By the time the Comanche coach could call timeout at the 5:45 mark he was down 29 to 17.
Avri Weeks had just picked up her second foul at the 5:34 mark. As she went to the bench I am sure Comanche thought now was the time to get back in the game. Tyla Bohannon replaced Weeks and responded by scoring a basket and was 2 of 2 from the line. Rumer was trying to work a rotation of Weeks, Wagnon and Bohannon to keep the front court out of foul trouble. This turned out to be an important move on his part. Meanwhile the points keep coming. McKnight had a three and a two, Weeks and Henderson both had field goals. Bailey had another three and two free throws, she was half way to perhaps her best game of the season. The half time lead was now 37 to 30.
In the third quarter, the intensity picked right up again. Weeks was back in with a field goal and was 2 of 2 from the line. Henderson was 2 of 2 from the line. Bailey had a field goal. Wagnon was good for field goal and was 1 of 2 from the line. And here was where it started to get interesting. Wagnon got her third @ 3:40 to play. Weeks got her third @ 1:32. Bohannon had her third at the 1:00 mark.
The turnstile continued to spin for the front court players. Bohannon however scored a bucket and was fouled with .1 of a second left in the quarter. She calmly stepped up and hit the free throw. The score going to the fourth was 51 to 43.
Coach Rumer made a decision at this point and put a plan in place.
The Lady Redskins responded and executed the plan. They ran their offense, put people moving, everyone handling the ball, and worked the clock. They also got to the line and went 9 of 9 from the line in the quarter. Only two field goal attempts made in the quarter. Wagnon found herself wide open underneath, put up a shot, missed it but was fouled. She hit both. Henderson had the other attempt on a drive and it was good and she was fouled and hit the free throw. Bailey, perfect 2 of 2, Weeks, perfect 2 of 2. The team was 9 of 9 from the line when it counted the most. The final score, 62 to 52.
Note to fans: Almost one year ago to the day, (2019) the Lady Redskins defeated Comanche , 64 to 54. Oh yeah, one year prior to that, (2018) the “Kes Reaves” game. She took the ball with 5 seconds to play, down by one point, drove the length of the court, and hit the layup while stunned Comanche watched. That win propelled them on to the state tournament where they were not stopped until the finals. Another note to fans: Kes Reaves (Murray State and soon to be Northwestern Oklahoma State) was in the house tonight to watch her girls take down Comanche again.
Final stats: Bailey lead the team with 15 points, followed by Henderson who had 14. Next was Wagnon with 11. Weeks had 8 and Bohannon and McKnight, 7 each. As a team from the free throw line, 26 of 30 for 87%. That will win games for you.
After the game Coach Rumer had this to say, “I thought we fought really hard and the girls gave great effort for four quarters. We put together a full game. We hit our free throws late in the game, which always helps. I’m just super proud for them”. When asked if the two field goal attempts in the fourth quarter was the plan, he replied, “Not really. I just wanted to control the tempo of the game with the lead we had”. Yes they did. And they left it all out there tonight.
As often happens in a playoff run, the substitution rotation tightens up, especially, with four seniors on your team. On this night, Bailey, McKnight and Henderson did not come out of the game.
What really makes this remarkable is the pace and the tempo they play at. They never stop running. Next up, they will “run” up to the Area tournament next Friday at Chickasha.