Pocola girls, Spiro boys win

By CRAIG HALL
SPIRO—Pocola girls coach Bruce Hobgood reached a milestone in the Lady Indians’ win while Spiro’s boys had to hang on late to win here Monday night.

Hobgood won his 600^th game in the Lady Indians’ 54-30 win while Spiro almost blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead before finally putting the Indians away, 57-54.

	Photos by CRAIG HALL Pocola's Patrick Dixon goes high for a layup in the Indians' loss to Spiro.
Spiro's Meochea McKesson fights for the ball with Jadah Wilson and another player.

The girls’ game was all Pocola from the opening minutes to the end. After jumping out to a 13-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Indians held Spiro to only four points in the second quarter and led 21-10 at halftime.

The final half also belonged to Pocola as the Lady Indians scored 17 points in both quarters while Spiro could only score 10 points each in the third and fourth quarters.

Despite playing without Taylor Martindale, out with a knee injury, Pocola posted the impressive victory over a Spiro team coming off a win at Poteau Friday night.

The Lady Indians had four players in double figures. Aubrey Hargrove led Pocola with 18 points while Amber Conrad had 15, Jadah Wilson 13 and Megan Severe 10.

Bethany Lashley paced Spiro with 8 points.

After a close first quarter, Spiro’s boys used a 15-6 advantage in the second quarter to build a 30-20 lead. The Bulldogs’ lead grew to 15 at the end of the third quarter before they went cold from the field and the free-throw line to allow Pocola back into the game.

Spiro led 49-35 before Pocola went on a 15-5 run to cut the lead to four points with just over a minute remaining.

Patrick Dixon got the run started with two free throws before Ryan Lairamore scored a basket and added a free throw. Austin Parker added a three for Pocola and Lairamore added a free throw to cut the lead to eight.

Alonzo Releford hit two free throws to put the lead back to 10 before Parker and Randy Ragland each hit three-point buckets to narrow the lead to four.

After a missed free throw by Spiro, Parker missed a three and Shane Thompson made two free throws for the Bulldogs.

Ragland added another basket with 12 seconds left to cut the lead back to four but Mike White made one free throw and a basket by Dixon with five seconds left was too late to make a difference.

Spiro, now 12-10, was led by Elliott Hawkins’ 15 points. Thompson added 12 for the Bulldogs. Pocola, 8-15, was led by Dixon’s 15 points. Lairamore, Parker and Ragland each added 10 for the Indians.

The games were the final regular-season contests for both schools. They both move into the district tournament this weekend as Spiro plays at Heavener Friday while Pocola travels to Panama Saturday.