Muldrow girls win second-straight ABSCAC title

Class 4A No. 10 Muldrow (10-1) won its secondstraight Armstrong Bank Sequoyah County Area Classic championship Saturday night inside Muldrow’s Roger Sharp Activity Center by downing rival 3A No. 16 Roland (64) 45-31.

In the opening period Roland went in front 2-0 on Haven Freeman’s inside basket before the Lady Bulldogs reeled off seven straight points. Kennedi Wight scored three of Muldrow’s points and the Lady Rangers trailed 7-4 following Addison Cole’s jump shot in the lane.

Each team registered 10 points in the second quarter and almost midway through the stanza Freeman’s pair of foul shots gave Roland its final lead ((10-9) but Muldrow led 17-14 at the half after outscoring the Lady Rangers 8-4. Wight went 4-for-4 at the foul line in the period and Lilly Medicine Bird and Freeman totaled four points apiece for Roland. After exchanging baskets at the start of the third frame Wight’s layup and inside basket and Mason Anstine’s free throw made the score 27-18 at the 1:08 mark and a two-point field goal at the buzzer by Roland’s Jazlynn Tehee ended the scoring. Wight (4 points), Jensi Fields (3-pointer) and Anstine (3 points) accounted for Muldrow’s 10 points in the quarter and Freeman, Cole and Tehee (2 points each) scored for the Lady Rangers, who entered the fourth trailing 27-20. In the final eight minutes the Lady Bulldogs added seven points (18-11) to their advantage. Kennady Moore (3-pointer and 7 points), Wight (6 points) and Cailey Grinstead (3-pointer) were Muldrow’s leading scorers and Cole (11 points) hit a pair of 3-pointers for the Lady Rangers.

Wight (17 points) shared game-high scoring honors with Cole and also scoring for Muldrow were Anstine and Kennady Moore (7 points apiece), Grinstead and Jensi Fields (5 each) and Carmen Fields and Katelynn Moore (2 apiece).

Scoring for Roland were Cole (17 points), Freeman (8), Medicine Bird (4) and Tehee (2).

Muldrow head coach Jana Armer was pleased with her team’s performance Saturday night.

“I’m really proud of my kids,” Armer said. “It was a pretty physical game and they withstood that and finally made some big plays.

“I thought Jensi Fields played well. She handled the ball for us all night long. Kennady Moore’s fourth quarter I thought was huge. She had seven points in the fourth quarter and her 3 was big. Kiki (Kennedi Wight) does what Kiki does and she’s pretty consistent.

“Just really proud of how they played and how they handled adversity and always seemed to find a different gear in the second half. Thank goodness because our first halves have not been real consistent.”

Roland head coach Greg Pratt was especially proud of the way his Lady Rangers competed in Saturday’s title game.

“It was a good game,” Pratt said after the game. “We struggled to score tonight. I knew points were going to be hard to come by, they usually are when these two teams play, and we had some opportunities, especially at the free-throw line. We were 4-of-9 at halftime and down three. Too many points left out there from the free-throw line and we had some looks at the basket. They (shots) were contested but to step up and be at a level higher than where we want to be we’ve got to hit those contested shots.

“Defensively I thought we did really well, especially for three quarters. We broke down a couple of times early in the fourth then it kind of put us in gamblemode.

“I was proud of us. I thought we looked a lot better than what we have been playing the last few games, even before the break. We’ve just got to fix some things on offense and be able to put the ball in the hole.

“They played hard. I was really proud of our fight and I thought we really competed our tails off tonight.”

ABSCAC Girls’ All-Tournament Team: Central: Cambree Bair Gans: Melania Paniagua Gore: Lindsey Pierce Muldrow: Kennedi Wight and Cailey Grinstead Roland: Haven Freeman and Addison Cole Sallisaw: Addyson Gream Stigler: Gentry Powell Vian: Maci Smith