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By Phil Sandoval
Sports Editor
One bad quarter. Again.
On Friday, Guymon recovered from a poor spell to beat Heritage Prep to
stay alive in the Girls Class 4A Regional basketball tournament.
The same thing happened to the Tigers in Saturday’s loser’s-out
elimination final with Elk City. Called on to produce another rally,
this time, the magic ran out.
Guymon lost 55-46 to the Elkettes, who get to move on to next week’s
area tournament.
For the 15-10 Tigers the loss ended their season.
Unfortunately, a sour first quarter led to Guymon’s downfall.
The difference? It all came down to shooting.
Elk City came out smoking. They hit their first three shots for an 8-1
lead.
Meanwhile, Guymon was as cold as cold can get.
The Tigers missed six straight attempts before Myca Hunter snatched an
offense rebound inside the paint for to score Guymon’s first basket of
the contest.
It helped a little bit. But, not enough.
Elk City continued to make their shots, hitting 7-of-10 tries to take
a 19-6 lead by the end of the period.
In response, Guymon had one other field goal, their second in 13
attempts.
The 13-point deficit put the Tigers in catch-up mode.
And, to many, they outplayed Elk City in the remaining three quarters.
But, as hard as they tried, Guymon couldn’t reduce the Elkettes lead
lower than 5 points at any one point afterwards.
“I’m proud of the way we fought back,” said head coach Tim Hofferber.
“It’s too bad, the girls worked hard. But, you can not spot a big lead
to a (opposing) team in the playoffs.”
Elk City used 3-pointers to fashion the big lead.
Four their seven first period baskets came from behind the arc.
Another trey from junior Maggi Radar after two free throws by Brennan
Seymour moved Guymon within 11 of the Elkettes gave them a 30-20 lead
at halftime.
Seymour had one of the Tigers two field goals in a 5-0 third quarter
run which cut Elk City’s lead to 30-25. Rader pulled her team out of
the jam with the last of five 3-pointers she had in the game.
It was the last time Guymon got that close.
Rader and teammate Brooke Harrel, who connected deep three times, each
had 15 points. Two more Elk City starters — Hope Hall and Samara
Owlsey — finished with 13 and 11, . Cruzan, in the final game of her
varsity career, led all scorers with 17 points.
On the flip side, three starters from this year’s club return next
season.
Topping that list is All-Area selection Gabrille Costilla. She will be
completed by fellow junior Myca Hunter and Brennan Seymour — a
sophomore.
Additional underclassmen that Hofferber will turn to include Chyna
Corral, Vanessa DeWilde,Taylor Landes, Ashlyn Wadley and Lauren
O’Sullivan. |
