#3 Lomega Conquers #2 Hammon

It’s not personal, but there’s a level of disdain for Hammon in Lomega.

After all, it was the Lady Warriors who handed Lomega two of its three losses last year.

One came in the finals of the Warrior Classic - Hammon’s own tournament - and the other on a bigger stage, the Class B state championship.

While it won’t make up for the title game loss, Lomega did exact at least some measure of revenge on Saturday night.

Behind an MVP performance from Abby Swart - and tons of help from multiple teammates - thirdranked Lomega toppled No. 2 Hammon 60-52 to win this year’s version of the Warrior Classic.

“It’s always good to beat Hammon,” said Lomega coach Kevin Lewallen after his team improved to 14-1 with its 14th straight win.

“We are playing really hard right now and if we make some shots, we have a chance to be pretty good.”

Lomega did just that. After the teams stayed neck-and-neck in the first quarter, Lomega used a 17-8 run in the second to stake claim to a lead.

That included three 3-pointers and 11 points from Hadley Ott.

She added two more 3-pointers in the fourth when Lomega held off the Lady Warriors.

She finished with 18 points.

“It was her best game of the year,” Lewallen said.

Defensively, Lomega’s issue was finding a way to slow down Henley West, Hammon’s 6-foot-5 post player.

The Lady Raiders “contained” her through three quarters, but West scored 13 in the fourth and finished with 27.

Haunting Lomega last year was what some of the Lady Warriors were able to do on offense.

Shannon Ayers did score 13, but Lomega contained much of the rest of Hammon’s roster. Meanwhile, three Lady Raiders posted double-digit scoring.

Swart only had two points in the second and third quarters combined, but more than made up for it in the first and fourth.

The senior drained a trio of treys in the first frame, then added two more in the fourth.

She also went 4 of 4 from the foul line down the stretch to help maintain the advantage.

“She had a great tournament for us,” said Lewallen of Swart, who was named the most valuable player.

Ott also earned all-tournament team honors.

Lomega also got 10 points from Kate Myers.

Lomega was without Chloe Meier due to injury. That thrust Aliana Lawson into a starting role.

“Aliana was really good on the defensive end and I thought Paige Wheeler (four points) and Kate both had good games,” Lewallen said.

The rematch with Hammon almost didn’t happen.

Lomega trailed Texhoma 50-45 after three quarters, but came back to win 61-59.

The Lady Raiders trailed by a point with less than a minute left when Ott’s putback put them up 57-56.

Monse Rivera followed with a steal and Swart made four straight free throws down the stretch to push the lead to five points.

Texhoma cut it to the final margin with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Swart had a big second second half, scoring 19 of her game-high 25 points.

Lomega trailed 33-29 at the break, but Swart helped keep her team in the game with 11 points in the third.

Bree Yost added eight points in the game while Wheeler scored seven.

Vici nicks Raiders in consolation championship

Maddox Morris was in the right place at the right time, which was good news for Vici.

As for Lomega…it was a case of nothing more than bad luck.

With the game tied and the final seconds winding down, Lomega’s Trevor Lentz deflected a Vici pass.

The deflection went right into Morris’ hands in the lane, who turned around and knocked down a shot while being fouled with just over 2 seconds to play.

Though Morris missed the free throw, Lomega never did get off another shot in a 65-63 defeat in the consolation championship of the Warrior Classic in Hammon.

It was Lomega’s second narrow loss in the tournament. The first was a 69-60 defeat in overtime to the host team in Thursday’s opening round.

The Raiders sandwiched the losses with a 73-56 victory over Boise City on Friday.

A 28-12 run in the second quarter was the big burst on Friday.

Chase Burton scored 13 and Ben Marsh another nine in that quarter alone.

Marsh led the team with 21 while Burton scored 19.

The two combined for 28 points in Saturday’s defeat.

Marsh poured in 18 and Burton 10, but the duo was scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Lance Yost scored all nine of the Raiders’ points in the quarter while four different Vici players scored.

Yost finished the game with 22.

He made 1 of 2 free throws with just under 1:00 to play to tie the game at 63-63.