Lady Wolves fall short of state

By CRAIG HALL
MUSKOGEE—Heavener’s goal of going to the state tournament came up a little short here Saturday night in the Class 3A Area IV consolation championship.

The Lady Wolves fell behind big early, rallied late but could never overtake Sequoyah Tahlequah in a 54-45 loss before a huge crowd.

Photo by CRAIG HALL Heavener's Shaylee Manley gets a shot off despite tough defense in the first quarter of the Lady Wolves' loss Saturday night.

The Lady Indians were red hot in the opening quarter, jumping out to a 22-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 35-18 lead at halftime as Taylor Johnson scored 17 of her 19 points in the first half. Sequoyah did suffer a big blow when leading scorer Laci Marsden fell to the floor late in the quarter with an injured knee and was taken to the hospital.

At the start of the third quarter, Heavener came out with a new determination and slowly started climbing out of the huge deficit.

The Lady Wolves used an 11-0 run late in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to five points and outscored Sequoyah 18-8 in that period.

Heavener eventually cut the lead to 48-45 with 2:23 left in the game after a basket by Taylor Collins. But that is when Heavener grew cold again while the Lady Indians hit enough free throws down the stretch to score the final six points and clinch a berth in the state tournament starting Thursday.

“I’ve never been more proud of a group of girls,” said Heavener coach Jody Fincher. “I told them at halftime not to go out like this and they didn’t.

“They never gave up and showed the kind of character they had. That is what I am most proud of, the character they showed in the second half.”

It was Sequoyah’s red-hot shooting and press that hurt Heavener in the first half. The Lady Wolves got some good shots, but their shooting touch was off in the final day of a three-game stretch to make it to the consolation finals after last Saturday’s 46-42 loss to the Lady Indians in the finals of the regional tournament.

Heavener bounced back from the last loss to Sequoyah by beating Vian and Keys to get another shot at the Lady Indians.

But Heavener never got its game going until the second half and the deficit was a little more than the Lady Wolves could overcome. Plus, Heavener failed to get the rebound three times in the final minutes after the Lady Indians missed a free throw.

Heavener finishes with a 24-4 record, one of the best seasons in school history. Collins closed out a brilliant senior season with 22 points, but was the only Heavener player in double figures. Freshman Amber Holt had one of her better games, scoring seven points.

Sequoyah’s standout point guard Nikki Lewis added 17 points to go along with Johnson’s 19. Lewis scored 11 of Sequoyah’s final 17 points and her ball handling was a key in the Lady Indians’ delay game down the stretch.

Despite not getting to go to the state tournament, Heavener had a season to remember with a LeFlore County Championship, a 16-game winning streak, a conference title and coming so close to making the first trip to the state tournament in three years.

“The way they jelled as we went through the season and accomplished so many of our goals can’t be taken away from them, the coaching staff and the school,” Fincher said.