Jan. 24—Indianola 28, Stuart 27
With 57 seconds left in the fourth quarter, senior Jadee Hall knocked down a triple to put the Stuart Lady Hornets in front of Indianola 25-23.
The packed Southeast Expo Center crowd was on the edge of their seats as fans of both teams awaited who would play for a Pitt 8 Tournament consolation championship and who would go home. Both teams then took turns at the free throw line, but at the 12 second mark, Stuart remained ahead by a point.
The seven-seed Warriorettes desperately needed to get a shot up and the ball would ultimately land in the hands of sophomore Sydney Mathis who hadn’t made a shot all night and had four fouls.
The shot clock wound down, she threw up the mid range jump shot and the ball fell through the net to seal Indianola’s first Pitt 8 Tournament win since January 22, 2011; 28-27.
Mathis’ sophomore sister Skylar led the Warriorettes (8-10, 3-5 Pitt 8) with nine points while Hall led the Lady Hornets with seven points.
Senior Reagan Wade got six-seed Stuart’s (7-9, 2-4 Pitt 8) scoring started with a layup and senior Keelie Treat followed that up with a corner triple that put Indianola in a bind early down a quick 5-0.
All the Warriorettes needed was a timeout though as Skylar Mathis and junior Skylar Sanders knocked down back-to-back triples to give Indianola the lead back. Both teams would trade baskets near the end of the opening quarter and the Warriorettes would find themselves in front 8-7.
The defensive battle continued into the second quarter with only a combined 11 points scored. Senior Kinsley Corley opened up the period with a deep shot from beyond the arc for the Lady Hornets and junior Kenzie Lott responded with a layup and jumper to once again regain the lead for Indianola.
From there, neither team could find the bottom of the net for nearly four minutes until junior Brea Martin knocked down a long jump shot that put the Warriorettes ahead 14-12 at halftime.
Three jump balls summarized a scrappy third quarter tied 17-17. With just under three minutes to go in the game, Lott thought she had a potential dagger, getting fouled from beyond the arc.
However, head coach Roger Parham could only sit back in angst after having called a timeout seconds before the shot. Hall would then go on to make a crucial shot from deep at the 57 second mark, giving Stuart the 27-26 lead and leaving Indianola with a singular possession left.
Then, the magic happened. Lott ran the ball down the floor, passed it to senior Kayden Trevino who then passed it to Sydney Mathis. Mathis shot up the jumper and found nothing but net to seal the victory for the Warriorettes at the buzzer, 28-27.
Savanna 60, Haileyville 23
After only scoring 41 points in their opening round matchup, the five seed Savanna Lady Bulldogs scored nearly half of that in a quarter to move on to the Pitt 8 Tournament consolation championship.
Sophomore Hannah Goostree led the 17-6 fourth period scoring run with a big and-one floater and freshman Maddie Dobson fittingly capped off the game with a dagger triple to seal the Lady Bulldogs’ 60-23 victory.
Sophomore Gracie Clifton who comes off the bench for Savanna, had her breakout game of the season, leading the team with 15 points while sophomore Arie Pink led Haileyville was the leading scorer for Haileyville with 10.
The eight seed Lady Warriors (1-11, 0-8 Pitt 8) have had their scoring struggles this season, but they came out of the gate swinging to start the Pitt 8 consolation semifinal. Senior Madison McSwain and sophomore Kymbri Sutterfield both knocked down triples, putting the Lady Bulldogs on their heels early.
However, after a timeout, Savanna (8-7, 2-4 Pitt 8) found its rhythm. Junior Bryanna Vanciel got the Lady Bulldogs on the board and from there, they proceeded to go on a 15-2 scoring run capped off by a seven-point spurt from Clifton.
A seven-point lead at the start of the second quarter turned into a 17-point lead midway through as four different Savanna players got into the paint for layups while defensively, they held Haileyville scoreless.
Pink would hit a late jump shot and triple on consecutive drives for the Lady Warriors to keep them competitive, but with just under a minute left, Clifton continued to make a statement with a floater to secure a 35-15 lead for the Lady Bulldogs.
Back-to-back triples by Vanciel and senior Ryleigh Ivey opened up a third quarter where there were only 12 points scored combined. Haileyville was able to get some production from McSwain who hit her second triple in the game and defense by both teams didn’t allow for many second-chance shooting.
Even with the Lady Bulldogs having difficulty scoring, they still held onto a marginal 43-18 lead with just one period of play remaining. With some reserve players getting some minutes, Dobson fired up the Savanna bench with a dagger triple that iced the game in favor of the Lady Bulldogs, 60-23.
