THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Skiatook High School Athletics

SKIATOOK - Through the first nine games of the season, Broken Arrow has found itself in numerous close contests in crunch time. Execution down the stretch figures to be a critical factor in the Lady Tigers' success. On Saturday afternoon, BAHS head coach Tiffany Jones felt her team's lack of execution was detrimental in it squandering a six-point halftime lead and, ultimately, falling to the host Lady Bulldogs, 52-48, in overtime of the consolation semifinals in the Skiatook Invitational. BAHS (4-5) will take on McLain at 10 a.m. Monday in the seventh place game. "We played better (than Thursday's loss to Pryor), but we had three or four bad possessions," Jones said. One possession in particular that bothered Jones came with about 90 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Jalise Smallwood had just hit a spinner in the lane that gave BAHS a 40-37 lead. After getting the ball back with the lead, the Lady Tigers called a timeout. "We said nothing but a layup," Jones recalled. "I think everybody in the gym heard us." Instead, BAHS settled for a long jumper and a 3-pointer, both of which were off the mark. Skiatook responded with 3-pointers on its next two possessions, sandwiched around Kinsey Callen's trey, and send the contest into overtime tied at 43. "We were ahead and they had to come foul us," Jones said. "Then we lose a shooter and they tie it up. It comes down to execution." Callen connected on six 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 22 points to lead the Lady Tigers. Jalise Smallwood added 14 points despite early foul trouble. But it was not enough as Skiatook's Anna Bonham hit a 3-pointer with 2:16 remaining in overtime gave the Lady Bulldogs the lead for good. Skiatook (5-3) converted on all four free throw attempts in the final 16 seconds to hold off BAHS. Kendall Schulte had a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds to lead Skiatook. Schulte and Bonham combined for eight of their team's nine points in the extra session. BAHS knocked down 11 3-pointers overall, but could not compliment its outside shooting with points in the post. "Thought we should've been able to score inside and we didn't get any points from our post players. That hurt us," Jones said. BAHS connected on seven 3-pointers in the first half as it took a 27-21 lead at halftime. Smallwood scored nine first-quarter points before being saddled with her second foul early in the second quarter and was forced to sit out the final 7:27 of the half. Callen helped pick up the scoring slack with 11 points in the first two quarters, including a trio of 3-pointers. Brooke Bowker, who made a rare start, responded with four rebounds and three points. Junior Jessica Laughlin came off the bench to help the Lady Tigers on the boards. Laughlin grabbed three rebounds in the first half as BAHS held a commanding 17-9 edge on the glass. Schulte scored 14 of her 23 points in the first two quarters to keep the Lady Bulldogs within striking distance. Schulte's offense and seven BAHS first-half turnovers kept the Lady Tigers from a larger cushion at intermission. "We should've (led by more) but we turned the ball over too much. We had too many turnovers when we threw the ball into the post," Jones said. Skiatook opened the third quarter with a 10-3 spurt as the two teams traded momentum for the remainder of regulation. BAHS will look to finish the tournament on a high note when it faces McLain (2-4) on Monday morning. "We've just got to keep getting better," Jones said.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Skiatook High School Athletics

LADY TIGERS FALL TO SKIATOOK IN OT

SHAWN HEIN

Broken Arrow Ledger | 1/7/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Skiatook Athletics