Sallisaw wrapped up its second championship of the postseason on Saturday night with a 43-28 romp over Poteau in the Class 4A Area IV regional final at Paul Post Fieldhouse.
The win was the third in a row for the Lady Diamonds, who blew out Checotah for a district crown on Feb. 17, and then upset No. 6-ranked Victory Christian in the regional semifinals on Thursday night.
After avenging two regular season losses to NOAA conference rival Poteau, head coach Kelvin Jamison said he's enjoying Sallisaw's playoff surge.
"It's a real nice run. I think our young kids have grown up. We kind of expected to start off slow this season and we've had some rocky moments, but our kids are just playing super right now," said Jamison.
"They had to learn how to play hard all the time. We've been through those games where we play a good first half and then don't show up for the second half."
That wasn't a problem on Saturday night as the Lady Diamonds stifled Poteau defensively in the first half and then pulled away after the intermission. Sallisaw limited the visitors to just eight points in the opening two quarters and later took command with a decisive 13-2 run in the third period.
Meghan Smith sparked the run with a put-back and Lyndsey Daggs added a basket and free throw. Ashley Covington followed that with a three-pointer and Caitlyn Hall drilled another trey in the final seconds of the quarter to hand Sallisaw a 27-14 advantage.
Poteau crept back to within seven with about six minutes left in the game, but Sallisaw made 14-of-22 free throws the rest of the way to seal the win. Hall sank 5-of-7 and Daggs was 4-of-6 from the line in the fourth quarter.
Sallisaw held the Lady Pirates to 27.3 percent shooting from the field on Saturday night and dominated the boards, out-rebounding Poteau by a 29-18 margin. Jamison said the defensive effort was much better than the previous two games against Poteau.
"We played harder," said Jamison. "Looking at the film from the first two games, we had a lot of defensive lapses where we were standing around and not covering people like we're supposed to. In this game, we stepped up the intensity. Poteau's got four kids that can shoot the ball real well from the outside and we put a lot of pressure on them. We definitely made sure we covered those people up."
Sophomore guard Covington led Sallisaw in scoring with 11 points and drew praise from her coach.
"Everybody played real well, but if I was going to single anyone out, it would have to be Ashley Covington. She made everything fit together and kept us steady. She's our glue," said Jamison.
Hall, a freshman guard, also reached double figures with 10 points and Daggs netted nine. Smith added eight points, Sarah Snider four and Candace McNamee one.
Smith, a sophomore post, grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for Sallisaw, while Snider and Molly Hadley both came down with five each.
Julie Wilson scored 12 points to lead Poteau (17-9).
Sallisaw scored the first five points of the game and held Poteau scoreless for more than six minutes, but the Lady Pirates pulled even at 5-5 by the start of the second quarter. Covington hit her first three-pointer of the night to break an 8-8 deadlock and the Lady Diamonds took a 14-8 lead at halftime.
By holding on for the win, Sallisaw earned a spot in Friday night's Area IV championship game against Fort Gibson. The Lady Diamonds need just one more win to advance to the Class 4A state tourney.
Hugo 61, Sallisaw 45 (Boys)
The Black Diamonds' playoff run came to an end on Friday as Hugo dealt them a loss in the regional consolation bracket at Paul Post Fieldhouse.
T.J. Langley dropped in a game-high 20 points to lead Hugo, which came back on Saturday afternoon to beat Checotah for the regional consolation title.
Sallisaw had defeated Checotah the week before for the district championship, but was facing elimination after falling to Victory Christian on Thursday night.
The Diamonds hung tough with Hugo in the early-going and were within three points before the Buffaloes went on a 13-0 run to grab a 31-15 halftime lead.
Senior guards Trevor Teel and Cory Jobe scored 15 and 11 points, respectively, in the final games for Sallisaw. James Hoover added six, Jacob Blount four, Trevor Teague four and Mitch Lockhart two.
Michael Johnson and Donald Dangerfield scored 11 points apiece to join Langley in double figures for Hugo (11-13).
