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Lady Wildcats outlast Lady Redskins 62-57
The Madill Lady Wildcats continued their winning ways to start the 2019-2020 as they beat archrivals Kingston 62-57 on December 10.
The road win improved the Madill girls basketball team’s record to 4-1 and dropped Kingston’s mark to 0-1 in its opening game.
Senior forward Kristen Chapa was Madill’s high scorer with 28 points. Also, in double digits were sophomore guard Jayden Weiberg with 16 point and sophomore guard Gomez with 13 point. Other scores were sophomore guard Abbie Lambertsen with two points and sophomore guard Joslyn Stumblingbear with one point.
Kingston had two players in double figures with Brit Henderson scoring 17 points and Tyla Bohannon scoring 16 points. Also getting on the scoresheet for the Lady Redskins were Presley McKnight with nine points, Raegan Davis (five points), Kamry Bohannon (four points), Emi Osteen (three points) and Ethel Stewart (three points).
After the game, Runyan spoke to The Madill Record outside of the visitors’ locker room.
“That was a very big win for us,” he said. “The girls played hard. Played well. I told them in there a while ago we’ve always had this. It’s just we couldn’t put four quarters together. It got pretty touchy there in the third quarter. We went a long streak there without scoring. We finally got that busted through and went back to it. And I was proud of ‘em.”
Runyan said a key to the game was handling defensive pressure employed by the Lady Redskins.
“I told them today if we can handle the pressure cause [Kingston] will cram it down your throat,” he said. “All those girls are athletic. They run. If we can handle the pressure we’ll be fine.”
Kingston had a 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Wildcats used an uptempo pace in the second quarter to take a 29-20 lead.
Gomez hit a three as time expired in the second quarter to send the Lady Wildcats to the locker room with a 34-20 lead.
A tightening game
Brit Henderson scored on a three-point play to open the second half to cut the Madill lead to 34-23. The score was 47-40 at the end of the third quarter in Madill’s favor.
Henderson drove around the Lady Wildcat defense and found a space to make a shot bucket off the backboard which cut the deficit to 47-42.
After a full timeout by Madill, Henderson hit a pullup three to cut it to 47-45.
But Madill answered as Gomez took the ball down the court and scored. Kingston moved into the bonus with 6:10 to go in the fourth quarter.
Henderson hit both free throws on a one and one. The shots cut the Madill lead to 49-47. But the Lady Wildcats went back to their senior scorer, Chapa who made another basket to restore the four-point lead, 51-47.
Kingston was unable to convert on their next possession and Madill took advantage as Weiberg grabbed the board and drove the length of the floor. The sophomore guard was fouled on her shot and made both free throws to increase the Madill lead to 53-47.
Tyla Bohannan was fouled and made both shots to cut the deficit to 53-49. However, the Lady Wildcats immediately struck back as Weiberg drilled an open three from the left side of the arc to make it 56-49.
Another Madill foul meant Kingston was in the double bonus and it sent Henderson to the line for two free throws, which she made.
Madill answered again through a Weiberg three; this time from the right side of the arc to increase their lead to 59-51. The battle continued as Tyla Bohannon fought for a basket down low, but was foulded. She made both free throws to make the score 59-53.
The sides would stay deadlocked for a stretch late in the fourth quarter.
Then, Madill got a pair of free throws while Kingston made one of their own to make it 61-54.
Then, things would get tight as McKnight hit a clutch three with less than a minute to go.
The ball would get back to the Lady Wildcats but the Lady Redskins backed off on defense much to the consternation
Time would go down to 15.8 seconds before Gomez was fouled and she missed both shots. However, Chapa made a free throw to make it 62-57, which would be the final score.