Third place at the Charles K. Heatly Tournament came down to a rematch of Pauls Valley vs Lindsay, with the Lady Panthers winning, 43-22.
Pauls Valley’s Kate Taylor led the scoring with 19 points.
The win came after a tough one-point loss to Chickasha on Friday. The Lady Chicks, the eventual tournament champions, led for most of the first three quarters. The Lady Panthers only scored 5 points in the third quarter, which ended 31-17.
The first five minutes of the fourth quarter, Pauls Valley outscored Chickasha 14-0 to tie up the game. Chickasha took the lead back with a steal and a layup with just over two minutes left and extended the lead to four with a minute and a half left. Taylor hit a three-pointer with 1:15 left to bring the score to 35-34. With 0.3 seconds left, the Lady Panthers in-bound the ball but failed to get a shot off.
“If we had the same intensity the second half that we had in the first half, this would have been a different ballgame,” Coach Kayla Denton said.
Pauls Valley started the tournament with a 50-35 win over Plainview. Top scorers for that game were Mallory Carter with 18 points, Kate Taylor with 13 and Rachel Hamilton with 12.
For this tournament, Taylor scored 46 total points during three games. Carter scored 25 points, Hamilton scored 21 and Mati Fishback scored 16. Lexi Demuke scored 7 and Mady Williams, Gracy Manning and Kylene Denton scored 4 points each.
Lindsay, the tournament hosts, suffered the Saturday loss without their point guard, Marisol Hernandez, who tore her ACL during Friday’s game against Harrah. She will be out the rest of the season.
“The first two days of the tournament we had very solid defense,” Russell said. “Today (Saturday) was going to be rough with the heart and soul of our defense (Hernandez) gone.”
Lindsay began the tournament with a 40-37 overtime win against Cache.
Against the Lady Bulldogs, the Leopardettes trailed throughout most of the first half, which ended 16-12. In the final minute and a half of the third quarter, Lindsay trailed 24-19. Addi Dodson drove down the lane for two, and on a fast break, Lindsay passed the ball back out to Gracey Bray at the three-point line, tying the game. After a back and forth fourth quarter, Kylee Byrum tied the game at 30 with a free throw and 20 seconds left.
In overtime, Lindsay successfully stopped Cache from scoring the final two minutes, while scoring five of their own points to take the lead and keep it.
“The offense did a better job of slowing down and hitting free throws in the clutch,” Russell said.
On Friday, the Leopardettes fell to Harrah 52-32.
“I’m very proud of my team’s defensive intensity and effort,” Lindsay Coach Jacob Russell said.
Lindsay's top scorers for the tournament were Abbi Dodson with 19, Brecklynn Cline 11 and Jacey Anderson 10. Hernandez and Addi Dodson each had 9 points. Byrum, Brylee Russell and Alondra Lopez each had 8 points. Bray scored 7 points and Nacobi Miller had 5 points.
Three Garvin County players made the All-Tournament Team: Pauls Valley’s Kate Taylor and Mati Fishback and Lindsay’s Marisol Hernandez.
