Lady Diamonds 3rd at Bethel tournament; Black Diamonds consolation champs

SHAWNEE — The Sallisaw High School basketball teams brought home tournament hardware on Saturday.

The Lady Diamonds won the third-place game of the First United Basketball Classic with a 46-36 win over the Eufaula Lady Ironheads on Saturday afternoon at Bethel High School. The Lady Diamonds opened the tournament with a 46-37 win over Pauls Valley on Thursday afternoon but lost 56-54 to Blanchard in Friday night’s championship semifinals.

The Black Diamonds won the consolation championship of the First United Basketball Classic with a 79-60 win over the Tecumseh Savages. After losing Thursday’s openinground game 55-52 to McLoud, the Black Diamonds bounced back with a 42-29 win over Perkins-Tryon.

In the girls’ third-place game, the Lady Diamonds (4-2) led 11-10 after a quarter, 19-17 at halftime and 30-21 after three periods.

For the game, Hannah Palmer led Sallisaw with a game-high 11 points, followed by alltournament team member Kayli Macon with nine points, Katelyn Carlton with eight points, Emma Martin and Sydney Weedon with seven points each and Channing Wilson with five points.

In the girls’ championship semifinals, Blanchard led 17-5 after a period and 33-20 at halftime. However, the Lady Diamonds outscored the Lady Lions 34-25 in the second half, but their rally came up short.

In defeat, Macon led Sallisaw with 20 points, followed by Palmer with 13 points, Wilson with eight points, Martin with five points and Weedon and Casey Brackett with three points each.

In the girls’ opening-round game, the Lady Diamonds rallied from an 8-7 deficit after a quarter by outscoring Pauls Valley 39-29 over the final three periods to get the comefrom- behind victory.

For the game, Sallisaw put a trio of players into double figures, led by Macon’s gamehigh 15 points, followed by Palmer’s 14 points and Alayna Locust-Trammell’s 10 points. Weedon scored five points, while Wilson added two points.

In the boys’ consolation championship game, the Black Diamonds (33) rallied from an 1817 first-quarter deficit as they outscored Tecumseh 25-13 in the second period for a 4231 halftime lead. A 2015 third quarter upped the Sallisaw advantage to 62-46 entering the final period.

For the game, Tae Muskrat-Flynn, who made the all-tournament team, scored 20 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Cooper Jackson with 17 points, Cooper Cox with 16 points, Brodi Nickell with eight points, Treston Oliver with seven points, Jackson Harris with five points, Cooper Carter with four points and Jin Chang with two points.

In the boys’ consolation semifinals, trailing 9-8 after a period, the Black Diamonds outscored Perkins-Tryon 34-20 over the final three quarters for the comeback win.

For the game, Jackson scored a game-high 14 points and Muskrat-Flynn added 10 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Cox and Nickell with six points each, Harris with four points and Carter with two points.

In the boys’ openinground game, McLoud rallied from a 17-15 first-quarter deficit by outscoring the Black Diamonds 40-35 over the final three periods to get the come-from-behind victory.

In defeat, Muskrat-Flynn shared game-high honors with 20 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Nickell with 13 points, Carter with nine points and Jackson and Cox with five points apiece.

CORRECTION

In last Friday’s edition, the incorrect player who hit the halfcourt 3-point basket to end the first half in the Roland girls road game on Dec. 10 was listed in the story. The buzzer-beating shot was made by Kayli Macon.

The online story has been corrected. Your TIMES regrets the error.