Howe takes two from Pocola

By CRAIG HALL
HOWE—Howe’s girls survived one of their biggest threats to the home winning streak while Jaron Wiggington and the Lions got some revenge against Pocola.

The Lady Lions came from behind to grab a 49-42 win while the Lions took a 54-52 win.

Since the new gym opened in the 2006-07 school year, the Lady Lions have been perfect at home. That streak seemed to be in jeopardy as Pocola led 29-21 at halftime.

The first half was one of the worst of the year for the Lady Lions. After grabbing a 7-0 lead, Pocola outscored Howe 28-12 over the remainder of the half.

The second half was a different story as Lynsey White got the Lady Lions going with two steals and Howe took the lead early in the fourth quarter on a basket by Randa Grant.

“We came out flat in the first half,” said Howe coach Chris Brown. “You see that a lot of times after the county tournament. In the second half we got a spark from Lynsey White with a couple of steals and that gave us a lot of energy.”

Howe answered with a free throw by Amber Conrad, but Brianna Hillebrand scored four straight points and Chelsea Baggs also hit a basket to give Howe a 45-38 lead. The Lady Lions opened the fourth quarter on a 10-1 run to take the lead.

Conrad hit a pair of free throws with 3:06 left to cut the lead to 45-40, but Hillebrand answered with 2:50 left and neither team could score again until Taylor Martindale scored for Pocola with 32 seconds left.

Freshman Brooke Vandever hit a basket with 18 seconds left for the final margin.

“Our defense was a lot better in the second half,” Brown said. “It really helped us on offense.”

Hillebrand led Howe with 13 points, 10 coming in the second half. Chelsea Baggs added 11. Conrad led Pocola with 16, 10 of those coming in the first quarter while Martindale added 14.

Howe’s boys have also had a great year, but one of the down moments was during a 65-54 loss to Pocola in the fifth-place game on Friday.

In that game, Wiggington, Howe’s leading scorer was held scoreless. He made sure that wouldn’t happen again, scoring eight points early to give the Lions a spark early and finishing with 12 in the first half.

Howe led most of the game, but Pocola made the game interesting late. After Howe built a 42-31 lead late in the third quarter, the Indians went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to one.

Pocola could never take the lead, but cut the lead to one and then tied the score with 4:56. With the score tied at 48, Howe’s Jared Brown hit a basket with 2:02 left to give the Lions a 50-48 lead.

Pocola’s Ryan Lairamore tied the score with a layup but Brown hit another basket after following his own miss. Lairamore hit another basket to tie the score with 45 seconds left only to see Brown answer with a basket off an assist by Jared Wann.

Howe got the ball back after a missed attempt by Pocola, but could not get the ball in with 4.4 seconds left and Pocola got the ball back on its own end of the court.

The Indians got the ball inside to Patrick Dixon, but his long three at the buzzer was off and Howe had a 54-52 win.

Wiggington led Howe with 20 points. Brown had nine, all in the final quarter, along with Cameron Sanders.

Lairamore, Austin Parker and Randy Ragland each had 14 while Dixon was held to six.