Challenge Accepted

Maybe early Thursday evening inside a locker room at the Kerr Center in Ada will prove to be a turning point for this Kingfisher High School girls basketball team.

Maybe it won’t. Either way, the result of the opening round of the Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic - a 45-36 loss to McAlester - was enough for coaches to have an extended talk with the Lady Jackets inside that locker room.

In defeat, Kingfisher shot a paltry 29 percent, was out-rebounded 33-16 and saw its record drop to 2-3 on the season.

“We did not play our best,” coach Taylor Young said afterward. “We had a conversation afterward about how true character reveals Needless to say, it was a time of struggle.

“We told them they were going to have to decide what type of team they wanted to be when things get tough,” Young said.

In a sense, Young still doesn’t know because over the next two days, times didn’t get tough again.

KHS rebounded from the McAlester loss with two dominant performances.

The Lady Jackets hammered 2A’s 10th-ranked Hartshorn 51-29 on Friday and then dominated Class 3A’s seventh-ranked Bethel 55-29 Saturday to claim the consolation championship of the 46th annual tournament.

“I’m really proud and happy with how they responded,” Young said.

In both wins, the Lady Jackets used big second quarters to build comfortable halftime leads, then put their opponents away with early third-quarter runs.

Against Hartshorne, KHS led 15-6 after a quarter, then outscored the Lady Miners 11-0 in the second period.

Bethel was within 10-8 after a period, but KHS went on a 16-3 run in the second to post a 26-11 halftime lead.

And both times, that momentum carried over into the third period as the Lady Jackets denied any whiff of a comeback. Kingfisher outscored the last two foes by a combined 31-12 in the third quarter.

On top of improved shooting, Young said a big reason in the turnaround was Kingfisher’s effort in rebounding.

After giving up 33 total rebounds, including 11 offensive, to McAlester, Kingfisher out-rebounded Hartshorne 26-15 and then Bethel 26-13.

The Lady Jackets surrendered just nine offensive rebounds in the two games, allowed the opponents to shoot 24.3 percent (18 of 74 combined) and forced 38 turnovers.

“Our defense and rebounding was really good those last two games,” Young said. “And our defensive rebounding opened up our transition offense.”

Abbie Myers attacked Hartshorne’s defense and the boards on Friday.

She just missed a double- double with 18 points and nine rebounds. Her aggressiveness got her to the foul line 14 times and the sophomore connected on 10 of them.

Addy Matthews scored 10 points while Peyton Walker heated up from beyond the arc, where she scored all nine of her points.

Junior Reagan Snider contributed 8 points on 4 of 6 shooting and also hauled in eight rebounds to go with five assists and three steals.

Snider was dominant inside against Bethel as she racked up 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting.

She also had six rebounds and was voted to the all-tournament team.

“She had good games all three days,” Young said. “Her all-tournament team nomination was much deserved.”

Myers was also a big contributor Saturday with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Walker was again efficient from 3-point range as she made 2 of 3 attempts as part of her 8 points and four assists.

Saturday’s win pushed the Lady Jackets to a 4-3 record and gave them their first win streak of the season.

Outside of McAlester - which won the Class 5A state championship in 2022 - Kingfisher’s other losses are to Bethany and Tuttle, currently the No. 1 and No. 5 teams, respectively, in Class 4A.

KHS will be the top seed in this weekend’s Wheat Capital Tournament in Chisholm, which includes the likes of defending champion Jones as well as Alva, both of which are ranked in the top-four of Class 3A.

Young expects the early- season tests to pay off with potential tough matchups on the horizon.

“We haven’t had the easiest of schedules to start out so they have been battle tested early,” she said.