Muskogee girls hold off Broken Arrow rally
BY MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer
Saturday, February 02, 2013
2/02/13 at 5:51 AM
MUSKOGEE - Kelsey McClure admitted she and her Muskogee girls basketball teammates got a little complacent after racing to an early 18-point lead Friday night.
Things got a lot more interesting when Broken Arrow came to life with a fullcourt press and pulled to within a point of the Roughers with more than four minutes left.
But when you've won 11 straight games, as the Roughers have, you learn to have a little faith in your teammates.
"We just decided to calm down and step up," McClure said. "We knew we could do it if we put our heads together."
The Roughers never surrendered the lead and Alexus Wilson hit a huge 3-pointer, helping preserve a 75-67 win that put Muskogee in first place in the Frontier Conference.
McClure scored 31 points, one off her season high, as the Roughers (16-2, 7-2) moved past previous conference leader Bixby. The No. 2 Spartans fell at home to Union 66-35 on Friday night.
In boys action, No. 5 Broken Arrow surrendered most of a 16-point lead in the third quarter, but held on to beat the Roughers 60-49 behind Jordan Phelps' 22 points.
Muskogee 75, Broken Arrow 67: By her own admission, McClure was "on fire" in the first half. She made her first three 3-point attempts and had four 3s total while scoring 21 points in the first 16 minutes.
The Roughers raced to a 30-12 lead early in the second quarter, but the game changed just as quickly when the Tigers started forcing turnovers.
Whitney Stanley had four steals to lead the Tigers (10-7, 5-5) defensively as they forced 16 turnovers. Toree Thompson led the way offensively with 23 points.
Broken Arrow had the deficit trimmed to 43-35 by halftime, got even closer in the third quarter, and made it 63-62 on a pair of foul shots by Thompson with 4:46 left.
To that point, the Tigers had been frustrating the Roughers with a 2-3 zone and decided to stay in it again. This time, Wilson bombed a trey from the right wing and Muskogee's lead was 66-62 with 3:54 left.
Aaliyah Wilson, younger sister to Alexus, followed with a steal leading to McClure's foul shot. That made the lead five and it grew to six when Mari Jackson scored a putback basket with 1:51 left.
BA 60, Muskogee 49 (boys): The fifth-ranked Tigers (13-4, 7-2) built a 44-28 lead early in the third quarter, then surrendered a 14-0 run and took a two-point lead to the final quarter.
"I think they're trying to make me old," coach Rusty Stecker said.
But the Tigers scored the first six points of the final period and made key foul shots down the stretch to hold off the Roughers (8-10, 4-5).
"Basketball is a game of momentum, and we need to do a better job of controlling the momentum of our opponents," Stecker said.
Anthony King led the Roughers with 17 points and David Beasley had 12 before hitting his head and leaving with a concussion in the fourth quarter.
MUSKOGEE 75, BROKEN ARROW 67 (girls)
| Broken Arrow |
11 |
24 |
21 |
11 |
- |
67 |
| Muskogee |
18 |
25 |
16 |
16 |
- |
75 |
BA: Thompson 23, Dennis 9, Stanley 8, Jackson 7, McBride 7, Tierra Jones 5, Gaulden 4, Erdmann 2, Letney 2.
Muskogee: McClure 31, Alexus Wilson 15, Jackson 10, Aaliyah Wilson 8, Carter 4, Rozell 4, Tillman 3.
BROKEN ARROW 60, MUSKOGEE 49 (boys)
| Broken Arrow |
18 |
12 |
14 |
16 |
- |
60 |
| Muskogee |
6 |
17 |
19 |
7 |
- |
49 |
BA: Phelps 22, Cantrell 12, Campbell 11, Huffman 6, Rovang 4, Davis 3, Waymire 2.
Muskogee: King 17, Beasley 12, Ivy 8, Givens 7, Cherry 4, Reed 1.
Original Print Headline: Muskogee girls hold off BA rally
Mike Brown 918-581-8390
mike.brown@tulsaworld.com
