Lady Wolves, Bulldogs win district titles

By CRAIG HALL
HEAVENER—Coaches say one of the more difficult things to do is beat the same team multiple times.

That was what was facing the Heavener girls and Spiro boys in the district championship games here Friday night.

The Lady Wolves had already beaten Spiro three times while the Bulldogs had downed Heavener’s boys twice.

Both teams overcame that problem to win the district championship as Heavener’s girls beat Spiro, 54-32, while the Bulldogs came from behind to beat the Wolves, 66-57.

	Photos by CRAIG HALL Heavener's Jordan Kannady shoots a layup as Spiro's Kendra Ledbetter defends.
Spiro's Elliott Hawkins loses control of the ball as he goes up for a shot in the Bulldogs' win over Heavener.

The win by the ninth-ranked Heavener girls improved their record to 21-2 and was their 15^th straight win. Spiro’s boys improved to 13-10 and won their fourth consecutive game.

All four teams advance to the regional tournament on Thursday at Spiro to face either Pocola or Panama.

Heavener’s girls and Spiro’s boys will face the winners of Saturday’s game at Panama while the Lady Bulldogs and Wolves take on the losers of those games.

In the opening game, Heavener suffered through one of its worst shooting games of the year. Despite the shooting woes, the Lady Wolves jumped out to a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter.

Spiro played Heavener to within two points in the second quarter before the Lady Wolves put together a run in the third quarter to put the game away.

After Spiro scored the opening basket of the second half, Heavener went on a 6-0 run to open a 15-point lead. Bethany Lashley hit her second basket of the third quarter before the Lady Wolves set off on a 8-0 run highlighted by Shaylee Manley’s three pointer.

Taylor Collins finished off the run and Heavener led 41-20 with 1:56 left in the quarter and any doubt on who would win was gone.

“I thought we played okay,” said Heavener coach Jody Fincher. “I thought we were a little rusty after the week layoff. We’re used to playing three games a week.

“At times we played good and other times we didn’t. We just couldn’t get the ball to go in the basket.”

Fincher gave credit to Kim Benson, Manley and Jordan Kannady for their play in the game.

Taylor Collins led Heavener with 15 points, along with six blocks, while Skylar Cooper had 12 and Benson nine. Manley scored seven, all in the third quarter. Meochea McKesson paced Spiro with 10 points.

Spiro coach Dustin Gist was wanting to make sure that Heavener’s Austin Mead and Koda Glover were covered and did not get many shots.

That strategy failed early on as Mead and Glover each hit three three-point baskets in the first half as the Wolves took a 24-16 lead.

Glover got in foul trouble and the Bulldogs clamped down on Mead and the other Heavener players in the second quarter, cutting the lead to 37-32 at the half.

The third quarter belonged to Spiro as the Bulldogs outscored Heavener 21-6 to build a 10-point lead. The Bulldogs’ run eventually grew to 26-6 as Spiro led by 15 early in the final quarter.

Heavener scored six straight to cut the lead to nine, but the two teams pretty much traded points the remainder of the game and the Bulldogs hit six of eight free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.

“We came out and they did what I wanted us to do,” said Gist. “They got the lead and that was what I hoped we would do.

“The first quarter we were really not supposed to let Mead and Glover shoot but they did. I don’t know why it took us so long to stop them.”

Spiro got a big lift from its bench. Dakota Watson scored 13 points with three threes and Alonzo Releford added 11.

“I thought he did a real good job tonight,” Gist said of Watson. “I took him out because he looked tired and I sort of forgot about him. Coach (Chris) Bunch reminded me about him and I put him back in.”

Releford was a force inside. In the previous meeting, he scored 24 points against the Wolves and had another good game.

“He’s tough to handle,” Gist said of Releford. “They couldn’t quite match up with him. He gives us such a lift.”

Elliott Hawkins scored 15 points to lead Spiro while Mike White had 14. Mead paced Heavener with 18 points, Shawn Bradley had 13 and Glover 11.