Jan. 17—TULSA — By the end of Tahlequah girls basketball’s last game, Lauren Stephens was on the bench fouled out, but Friday, Jan. 17’s game wouldn’t end the same way.
Stephens played a key role picking up a double-double with 15 rebounds and 12 points. It was nearly a triple-double for the junior as she added seven blocks to her stat line. That big day was a part of the reason the Lady Tigers edged out the Tulsa-Edison Lady Eagles 46-44 to give THS their third win of the season.
“Last game Lauren didn’t play much with foul trouble, so I think she really wanted to leave an impact on this game,” THS head coach David Qualls said. “She competed and played her tail off tonight. She was active on both ends for us and played a great game.”
Outside of Stephens’ strong performance, another big start to the Lady Tigers’ win was their first-quarter starter led by sophomore point guard Lakyn Adams.
THS has started games well this season, but their 20-10 start marked the best this season. Adams led that charge picking up 10 of THS’ 20 points. Carsyn Gilbert, Moe Wilson and Stephens all added at least two points in the quarter.
From the jump, the Lady Tigers set the pace to take the early 10-point lead. Showing their full-court press early helped grab some early buckets.
“I think we came out ready to play,” Qualls said. “We’ve had pretty strong starts this season for the most part. lakyn played really well in that first quarter. We can always count on her to come out with a lot of energy.”
Like other games this season, after a good start, the Lady Tigers took a step back in the second quarter. By the time the bell rang for halftime, the Lady Tigers’ lead dwindled down to just one.
Early in the second, the Lady Eagles picked up six straight and eventually went on a 9-2 stretch to cut their lead to one possession for the first time. At that point, THS woke up some to maintain a 27-26 lead going into halftime.
“We really just stopped making shots,” Qualls said. “They switched to zone and I thought we settled a little bit. Toward the end. Of the half, we had some turnovers as well.”
Neither team could get anything going in the first couple of minutes of the second half. Eventually, the Lady Eagles broke the spell and took the lead. After a slog of missed shots, the Lady Tigers hit a hot stretch to maintain a lead.
Stephens opened up breaking the scoreless stretch with a made basket. After that Adams forced a steal and a fast break lay-up. On the ensuing possession, Stephens forced a steal and was fouled on her ensuing fast-break attempt. Stephen hit one-of-two free throws to finish the Lady Tigers’ scoring stretch. Those five points were the only in the quarter for THS and were the only ones in the quarter for THS.
After not scoring well in the quarter, the Lady Tigers hit a hot stretch to open the fourth quarter. In the opening minutes, THS went on an 8-0 run to take a 43-33 lead at the four-minute mark.
After the Lady Eagles broke the scoreless stretch, they started pushing the Lady Tigers. Over the next couple of minutes, THS picked up just two points while TEHS made it a 45-44 game.
With the game on the line, the Lady Tigers cinched up their defense, forcing a turnover with 17 seconds on the clock. After they recovered the ball, THS was fouled and sunk a pair of shots to secure the 46-44 win.
“We’ve had a lot of close games [this season] and it was good to come out on top for this one,” Qualls said.
Adams led the Lady Tigers with 15 points, while Stephens’ 12 was right behind her. The win improves the Lady Tigers’ record to 3-6 this season.
THS is back in action at home on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at home against Stilwell.
Tigers run into foul troubles
Tahlequah boys basketball ran into foul troubles in their 63-41 loss to the Eagles. THS struggled with fouls throughout the game with Cash McAlvain and Jordan Daugherty fouling out.
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