Sallisaw broke a 13-13 deadlock by reeling off 12 points in a row to close the first half. Meghan Smith netted six of those and Caitie Goff hit a driving shot at the buzzer to send the Lady Diamonds to the locker room with a 25-13 advantage.
"That was a pretty big run," said Sallisaw coach Casey Eubanks. "The refs called it pretty tight in the first half and we had Caitlyn Hall, Meghan Smith and Sarah Snyder on the bench in foul trouble. Poteau was making a run on us, so I swallowed my pride and put them back in the game. I feel like that was pretty much the game right there because we led all the way in the second half."
Goff, a freshman guard, sank three 3-pointers after the break to finish with a game-high 15 points for Sallisaw. Smith, a senior forward, had 14 points, while Snyder added nine, Candace McNamee five, Mayra Salazar four, Hall three, Ashley Covington two and Lyndsey Daggs two.
The win was the third of the season for Sallisaw against NOAA conference rival Poteau. The Lady Diamonds opened the contest by scoring the first nine points, including five from Smith.
"Our approach was to pound the ball inside early," said Eubanks. "We knew they'd come out in a match-up zone, so we worked on an old offense that the girls ran before I came here. It paid off and showed because Meghan and Sarah were two of our top scorers."
Poteau was able to fight back from the initial Sallisaw run, but never could recover from the second spurt. The Lady Diamonds continued to pull away after halftime and their lead hit 20 when Hall converted a three-point play late in the game.
Tara Allison scored 13 points to lead Poteau (9-14).
Sallisaw improved to 22-3 with its third win of the postseason. The Lady Diamonds had advanced to the regional championship game with a semifinal win over Victory Christian on Thursday.
MULDROW 50, IDABEL 41 (G)
The Lady Bulldogs clinched a spot at the Area IV tournament by edging Idabel on Saturday afternoon for the regional consolation championship at Sallisaw.
The win was the third in three days as Muldrow battled through the losers bracket and head coach Jana Armer said her team always believed it could move on to the area tourney.
"We looked at our path and were real confident we could advance. We knew that if we played well, we could beat those teams," said Armer. "Idabel was highly-ranked and they play in another area of the state. We don't see them during the season and they presented some challenges."
One of those challenges was halfcourt pressure that forced 12 Muldrow turnovers in the first half and allowed the Lady Warriors to make up an early 10-point deficit to pull within three by halftime.
"In the second half we handled their halfcourt press a lot better," said Armer. "We made some adjustments at halftime and the girls executed and moved the ball well."
Muldrow stretched its lead back to 10 as Teala Cormier buried a 3-pointer about three minutes into the third period. The Lady Bulldogs went on to open up a 15-point edge in the fourth quarter while knocking Idabel out of the playoffs and moving to 17-9 on the season.
Sarah Martin paced Muldrow with 21 points, including three 3-pointers. Cormier added seven, Destiny Wilhite five, Brittnie Porter five, Amber Roberts four, Debra Silva four and Brandie Holt four. Wilhite also grabbed six rebounds and Roberts chipped in with five assists and three steals.
Armer said it took a team effort to get the win.
"A lot of the girls played well," she said. "Sarah Martin shot the ball well and Destiny Wilhite came in and gave us some good defense. Amber Roberts had some big steals. We had everyone step up."
Idabel, which was ranked in the top-10 entering the playoffs, was led by Jaccia Ashton with 14 points.
HUGO 56, SALLISAW 41 (B)
Hugo sank 14 of 22 free throws in the fourth quarter to deal the Black Diamonds a season-ending setback on Friday night in the regional consolation semifinals at Paul Post Fieldhouse.
Sallisaw was coming off a draining loss to No. 6-ranked Victory Christian the night before, but was hanging tough with Hugo when James Hoover drilled a 3-pointer to keep the Diamonds within 31-27 at the end of the third quarter.
Hugo responded with 3-point baskets from Rodney Cox and Patrick Smith early in the fourth quarter to push its lead to 39-28 with 6:15 remaining. The Buffaloes had one field goal the rest of the way, but made enough shots from the charity stripe to seal the win.
Hoover, a senior, poured in a game-high 19 points in his final appearance for the Diamonds. Sheldon Caughman scored six, Tyler Sutherland five, David Hadley four, Kyle Eubanks four and Matt Eubanks four for Sallisaw, which closed its season with a record of 16-9.
Hugo was led by DeMarcus Turner's 12 points. The Buffaloes went on to win the consolation title on Saturday by beating Idabel 42-36.
MULDROW 66, HUGO 32 (G)
Muldrow blew the game wide-open in the second and third quarters while cruising to a consolation semifinal win over the Lady Buffaloes on Friday afternoon at Sallisaw.
Sarah Martin pumped in 11 of her game-high 20 points in the first period to stake the Lady Bulldogs to a 13-8 lead before they began to pull away in the second stanza.
Muldrow used a 21-9 spurt to grab a 17-point lead by halftime and a 19-7 run in the third quarter had the Lady Bulldogs up 53-24 by the start of the fourth.
Brandie Holt joined Martin in double figures with 13 points for Muldrow. Debra Silva scored eight, Brittnie Porter six, Teala Cormier six, Terra Earls five, Amber Roberts four, Raegan Sparkman two, Amena Sharpe one and Caitlyn Sanders one.
Hugo got a team-high 12 points from Ayanna Jackson.
