Locust Grove holds off Lady Jackets

As the second half started, Taylor Young knew her team needed a good start to overcome a six-point deficit in the Class 4A girls state quarterfinals.

The opposite happened, however.

Locust Grove’s Tatum Stokes made back-to-back 3-pointers to give her team a 12-point lead - its largest to that point.

Kingfisher never fully recovered in what ended up a 52-39 defeat to the fourthranked Lady Pirates at State Fair Arena.

“That was the turning point,” said Young of Stokes’ two shots.

Locust Grove won its 25th straight game and improved to 26-1 on the season.

The fifth-ranked Lady Jackets ended their campaign with a 22-7 mark.

Despite shooting 37.5 percent - which included 1 of 7 from 3-point range - and committing 11 turnovers in the first half, Kingfisher was only down 21-15 at the break.

The Lady Jackets used a triangle-and-two defense to start the game, the first time all season they haven’t opened in man-to-man.

“They had size and length along with their point guard who could really shoot it from anywhere on the floor,” Young said. “We tried to throw something at them they have not seen all year long to throw them off balance.”

Locust Grove had just seven field goals and eight turnovers in the first half.

Abbie Myers was keeping KHS in it as the junior scored 10 of Kingfisher’s points by the half.

Her bucket with 4:19 left in the second quarter got Kingfisher within 17-15.

But Locust Grove scored four straight to end the half, then pushed its run to 10-0 with the Stokes 3-pointers to start the third quarter.

Kingfisher didn’t fold despite being down 13 points with 1:20 left in the third.

Raegan Snider and Mattie Slezickey combined to go 4 of 4 from the free throw line and, after Slezickey’s foul shots, Maya Haney drew a charge on the oppo-site end.

With just seconds left in the quarter, Snider weaved her way down the court and laid it off the glass as time expired.

Kingfisher closed the quarter with the 6-0 run to pull within seven.

Locust Grove got it back to 11 points in the fourth, but the Lady Jackets kept clawing back.

Reese Roof made a 3-pointer at the midway points of the fourth and later- after a lull in scoring by both teams - Snider scored in the paint and Slezickey added more free throws.

The 7-2 run by Kingfisher got it within 44-38 with 1:01 to play.

But Locust Grove didn’t let it get closer. The Lady Pirates went 6 of 6 from the free throw line in the final 45 seconds and also scored with an offensive set to close on an 8-1 run.

The Lady Pirates were 7 of 8 from the foul line in the fourth and 12 of 14 (85.7 percent) for the game.

After struggling offensively themselves in the first half, they shot 55.6 percent in the second half to finish at 17 of 37 (45.9 percent) for the game.

Locust Grove made six 3-pointers overall, five of them by Stokes, who led all scorers with 19.

Locust Grove also got 10 points from Henley Pickup, nine from Claire Hooker and eight points and nine boards out of Hannah Bond.

Kingfisher made just 2 of 14 (14.3 percent) 3-point attempts.

Overall, KHS shot 32.4 percent (12 of 37).

Myers finished with 13 points to lead the team.

Snider scored 11 and led the squad with five boards.

Roof scored seven while Ela Hartman and Slezickey chipped in four apiece.

Before time ran out, Young subbed in for Snider, the team’s lone senior.

“Raegan has had a great career,” Young said. “She’s the first KHS girls basketball player to go to three state tournaments in her four years in over 20 years.

“I am excited to see her continue her career at Northwestern (Oklahoma State University).”

Young has been with Snider for the entire journey, having guided Kingfi sher to those three state tournament trips in her four years.

Her fifth squad at Kingfi sher will see the return of a large majority of this year’s roster.

“With what we have coming back, I am already looking forward to seeing what goals they set out to accomplish next year,” Young said.