Lady Grizzlies beat Lady Pirates for consolation championship

PORUM — The Gans Lady Grizzlies brought home some tournament hardware before Mother Nature unleashed her winter storm as they defeated the Gore Lady Pirates 3632 in overtime Friday morning in the consolation title game of the Cross Telephone Invitational Tournament.

The Lady Grizzlies split their first two games, losing 71-30 in the opening round to new Gans coach Bobbie Wheat’s former team, the Porum Lady Panthers, on Wednesday, but they bounced back with a 34-32 consolation semifinal victory over the Keota Lady Lions on Thursday morning.

The Lady Pirates picked up a 3927 consolation semifinal victory over Weleetka on Thursday afternoon.

The Gore Pirates only got to play two games but still got third place.

After beating the Gans Grizzlies in Wednesday night’s opening-round game, the Pirates lost a close game to the Hulbert Riders by the score of 44-40 in Thursday afternoon’s championship semifinal.

However, due to “travel issues,” the Strother Yellowjackets, who were to be the third-place game opponent for the Pirates on Friday afternoon, could not return to Porum, so the third-place games on both sides of the bracket ended up being canceled. Thus, the Pirates beat the ‘Jackets by forfeit to win third place.

The Grizzlies lost their consolation championship game 68-14 to the Weleetka Outlaws on Friday after beating the Keota Lions 31-30 in Thursday’s consolation semifinals after being routed by the Pirates in Wednesday night’s opening-round game.

In the girls’ consolation title game, the Lady Pirates (8-7) used an 11-3 fourth quarter to get the game tied at 29-all at the end of regulation to force overtime, but in the extra session the Lady Grizzlies (9-10) outscored them 7-3 to get the win.

For the game, Nora Barnes scored 15 points and Skilynn Bird added 10 points to lead Gans, followed by Abigail Leach with six points, Valan Harper with four points and Brighton Dorsey with a free throw.

In defeat, Emily Daily scored a gamehigh 19 points to lead Gore, followed by Kennedy Williams with four points, Kylie “K.J.” McEver with three points and River Shoemake and Gracie Bruce with two points apiece.

In the Gans girls’ consolation semifinal game, the Lady Grizzlies rallied from a 15-9 halftime deficit by outscoring the Lady Lions 17-4 in the third quarter to take a 26-19 lead into the final period, where the Lady Lions made a valiant comeback that came up short.

For the game, Bird scored a game-high 20 points to lead Gans, followed by Harper with eight points and Barnes with six points.

In the Gans girls’ opening-round game, the Lady Panthers jumped out to a 13-5 lead after a quarter en route to a 38-9 halftime advantage to take control of the game.

In defeat, Bird led Gans with 12 points, followed by Harper with eight points, Barnes with five points, Madi Pilkington with three points and Dorsey with two points.

In the Gore girls’ consolation semifinal game, the Lady Pirates jumped out to a 14-4 lead after a quarter, which became a 22-10 halftime advantage and a 32-19 lead going into the final period.

For the game, Shoemake scored a game-high 15 points and Williams added 11 points to lead Gore, followed by Daily and Rayleigh Moore with five points each, Sophie O’Connor with two points and McEver with a free throw.

In the Gore boys’ championship semifinal game, the Pirates (11-6) fell behind 30-17 at halftime and 40-27 after three quarters, but they made a valiant comeback attempt as they outscored the Riders 13-4 in the final period but came up short.

In defeat, Cain Cooper scored a game-high 16 points to lead Gore, followed by Eli Munson with nine points, Keeton Rowe with eight points and Tate Brooksher with seven points.

In the Gans boys’ consolation championship game, the Grizzlies (3-14) fell behind 34-4 after a quarter and never recovered.

In defeat, Jessie Phillips led Gans with eight points, while Bryce Stevens, Austin Hines and Preston Bennett had two points apiece.

In the Gans boys’ consolation semifinal game, the Grizzlies, who trailed 21-13 at halftime, doubled the Lions 18-9 in the second half to get the comeback win.

For the game, Hines led Gans with 10 points, followed by Eli Blackmon with seven points, Phillips and Preston Moore with six points each and Aiden Garcia with two points.