TO’s prove costly for Lady Jackets

As the team was filing out of the gym Saturday, Kingfisher girls coach Taylor Young pondered how many turnovers her team had in its 48-46 defeat to Deer Creek in the championship game of the Alva Shootout.

“I bet it was at least 20,” she said.

And she was right. The Lady Jackets committed 25 turnovers in suffering their first loss of the season.

Several came in the fourth quarter as Deer Creek ratcheted up its defensive intensity and outscored KHS 11-4 in the final eight minutes.

That included the game winner by Nadia Taylor with 14 seconds left in the game.

The Lady Jackets, without a timeout to use, turned it over before they were able to try to tie the game.

The contest appeared in hand early in the third quarter.

The teams were tied at halftime, but Reese Roof opened the third quarter with a pair of 3-pointers.

The Lady Jackets started the third on an 8-0 run and opened up a 37-28 advantage on Mattie Slezickey’s 3-pointer at the 5:12 mark.

The lead was 42-37 entering the fourth, but KHS went more than five minutes before scoring in the final quarter.

Raegan Snider tied the game at 44-44 at 2:44 and Adlee Friesen gave KHS a 45-44 lead with a free throw with 2:24 to go.

Kingfisher got the offensive board after she missed the second free throw and was able to chew off a considerable chunk of the clock.

However, Kingfisher also had to burn its final two timeouts to keep from turning it over in that stretch.

The Lady Jackets then turned it over on the inbounds play after the final timeout.

Deer Creek’s Adrianna Radinovic gave her team a one-point lead with a bucket with 1:02 left.

KHS freshman Ela Hartman made 1 of 2 free throws with 47.3 seconds to go, tying the game at 46-46 before Deer Creek worked for the winning shot.

Kingfisher was 8 of 15 from the free throw line and its turnovers led to 16 Deer Creek points.

Roof led the team with 14 points and five assists.

Snider had 13 points and eight rebounds while Friesen scored eight points and pulled down 10 boards.

It was the second night in a row KHS let a lead slip away.

KHS beat Class 3A’s sixth-ranked Alva 50-44 in the semifinals, but not before letting a 16-point third-quarter lead evaporate.

Alva depleted it with 3:24 to play when Lakin Gaddy tied it with a threepoint play, capping a 21-5 run.

But the Ladybugs didn’t score again until just seconds remained in the game.

Kingfisher scored eight straight points, six at the free throw line, to ice the win.

Friesen made two of them with 1:46 left for a 4642 lead, then Roof followed with a bucket and two free throws in the final minute.

Before that, Snider carried the Lady Jackets for much of the night.

She scored 21 points and had eight rebounds.

Friesen scored nine points while Roof added eight.

Snider and Roof earned all-tournament honors.