Dec. 17—TULSA — A first-half cold stretch hurt Tahlequah girls basketball in their third straight road game and second straight loss.
The Will Rogers Lady Ropers took down the Lady Tigers in dominant fashion on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The Lady Ropers took down THS 66-33. A cold stretch that lasted nearly a quarter in length gave the Lady Ropers a chance to run up the score.
“I thought competed for three quarters,” THS head coach David Qualls said. “We were down eight going into the second quarter and it just got away from us. We lost that quarter 30-5; we lost by 33 and getting beat by 25 in a quarter is tough.”
Early on, the Lady Tigers competed with the Lady Ropers. In the first quarter, junior Lauren Stephens hit back-to-back buckets to give the Lady Tigers a 7-4. But that was the start of the Lady Tigers’ troubles.
After Stephens took a lead, it took eight minutes for the Lady Tigers to find the back of the basket. By the time, THS was hitting shots again the damage was done and they went into the locker room down 45-12. The Lady Ropers showed a strong press defense, overwhelming the Lady Tigers throughout that scoreless stretch.
Coming out of the half THS played well, improving their defense. In the quarter, the Lady Riders only gave up seven points while scoring seven points. THS scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, for their best that game.
“I thought our half-court defense was really good; the girls did what we wanted them to do,” Qualls said. “We just struggled with turnovers, that was the big key and turning point. There was a long stretch where we couldn’t handle that pressure. We got better handling it as the game went on.”
Stephens led THS with 11 points. Carsyn Gilbert added six points, Laken Adams had five and Dacey Brown added four points.
THS is back in action for their fourth straight road game at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 19.
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