Feb. 20—SKIATOOK — Matt Sweeney didn’t shy away from the fact his team was lost without Kailee Seaba on the floor.
Seaba, Oologah’s leading scorer, picked up her third foul with 2:37 remaining in the first quarter, forcing the sophomore to sit for the remainder of the first half. Skiatook took advantage, opening up a 12-point lead before staving off a rally in the second half to secure a 45-43 victory Friday night in the Class 4A Area I District 8 championship at the Brooks Walton Activity Center.
“You could tell we were a little dysfunctional,” Sweeney said. “We rely on her a lot in the game, so it did hurt.”
In Seaba’s absence, the Lady Mustangs saw a 6-4 lead turn into a 23-12 halftime deficit. Immediately after her exit, the Lady Bulldogs embarked on a 15-1 run before Allie Charloe finally gave Oologah its first field goal since Seaba gave it a 4-2 lead early in the opening period.
Macey Calico hit a 3-pointer to open the second half, cutting the deficit to 8 points, but consecutive baskets from Rylee Hipp made it a 12-point spread once more at 27-15.
The Lady Mustangs weren’t ready to give up just yet, though.
Oologah answered with a 7-0 run that included five free throws — including three from Seaba — to bring itself within 5 points, and it suddenly looked as if the Lady Mustangs were ready to assume control.
Enter Jada Massey.
The junior shooting guard responded with her third 3-pointer of the game at the 0:58 mark of the third quarter, sparking a 5-0 run that quickly negated Oologah’s rally attempt and gave Skiatook a 32-22 lead.
But the Lady Mustangs had a third wind.
Kalley Hogue made a pair of free throws with one second remaining in the third, beginning what would transform into a 9-3 spurt that pulled Oologah within 35-31 — its closest deficit since trailing 11-7 at the end of the first period.
Despite the effort, the Lady Mustangs shot only 3-of-6 from the free-throw line during that stretch, compounding Sweeney’s already growing frustrations of his team’s failure to convert layup opportunities throughout the game, especially with several offensive rebounds and forced turnovers creating ample opportunities.
Oologah managed 19 offensive rebounds and 20 takeaways in the loss.
“I’m a little disappointed in those chip shots under the basket,” said Sweeney, whose team finished 19-of-27 at the line. “I think we do a lot of things well, but we just don’t finish around the rim. I told them at halftime, if we don’t make those chip shots, it’s not going to be a very good ending for us. We made some, a little bit here and there, but not enough to pull it out.
“We play with good effort but just gotta finish those chip shots.”
However, Massey once again had a retort.
Massey hit consecutive 3-pointers with 2:57 and 2:05 remaining, putting Oologah in yet another 10-point hole with little time to rectify the situation. Massey finished with 15 points — all from the perimeter — and 2 rebounds.
“Sometimes we had some kids gamble and reach and go for a steal, and that leaves 23 (Massey) with five 3s tonight,” Sweeney said. “I didn’t even want to leave her alone at all, but she was wide open in the corner about four times and knocking them down on us.”
The Lady Mustangs made one final push, closing the game with a 12-4 run thanks to 9 points from Seaba and a run-starting 3 from Charloe, but the Lady Bulldogs made all four of their free throws in the final 30 seconds to secure the victory.
Seaba, who scored 13 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 5 rebounds, even made a half-court heave at the buzzer, but Jayden Hilton’s free throws with 0:03 remaining kept that shot from taking the game into overtime.
Before that, though, there was some controversy surrounding a pair of Skiatook free throws.
With less than 30 seconds remaining and Oologah trailing by five, Karsyn Littlepage attempted to foul Skiatook’s Kaylee Johansen, but the free throws were rewarded to Hilton instead. Despite Sweeney’s protest, the officials met briefly and opted to go with the original ruling and keep Hilton at the line.
Hilton — who finished with 10 points and 3 rebounds — made both, increasing the lead to 43-38.
“I think that was big because we got it down to a one-possession game, and that could’ve been a 1-point game instead of a 3-point game,” Sweeney said. “Everybody saw 25 (Littlepage) was guarding 21 (Johansen), and she reached and fouled 21. He (Skiatook coach Patrick Dinneen) did a good job; he put the best free-throw shooter on the line. He got one by them, but that’s part of it. If we would have done our job, we wouldn’t have been in that situation anyway.”
Charloe joined Seaba in double figures with 11 points and 4 rebounds, and Calico added 7 points and 7 boards while Littlepage grabbed a game-high 9 rebounds with 4 points.
For the Lady Bulldogs, Hipp and Allie Franklin came close to double figures with 9 points apiece and 4 and 1 rebounds, respectively.
The Lady Mustangs play Harrah at 1 p.m. Thursday at Lincoln Christian in Regional Consolation C.
