VERDIGRIS — A day before Homecoming Night, Verdigris coach Mike Buntin offered a simple rule of thumb: score 50 points in girls basketball and you expect to win.
Well, his Lady Cardinals didn’t just reach that mark Friday night, they sprinted past it.
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Verdigris hit 50 points by the 4:29 mark of the third quarter and never looked back, rolling to a 67-31 victory over Vinita inside the Verdigris Activity Center.
The win served as emphatic payback for a 55-52 loss to the Lady Hornets less than three weeks earlier, one that technically met Buntin’s benchmark but didn’t end the way the Lady Cardinals wanted.
This time, there was no doubt.
Verdigris [9-8] entered the night 6-3 when scoring at least 50 points this season. By halftime, the Lady Cardinals were already within striking distance, and by the time the third quarter settled in, the milestone arrived almost casually amid a wave of offense, rebounding and defensive pressure.
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“All coaches hate homecoming because you never know what you’re going to get,” Buntin said. “You can get that, what we saw tonight — a team that’s laser-focused because they have a bigger crowd with all the energy in the building — or you get that team that’s so distracted that they don’t do anything right. We’ve seen both. I think it did have a lot to do with tonight, too, but I would like to thank, as coaches, that the girls responded to being challenged and stepped up.”
Jackie Beauchamp set the tone early and often, finishing with a game-high 23 points and 7 rebounds. She punctuated the first half with a pair of buzzer-beaters, one to close the first quarter and another from beyond the arc to end the second.
“I hadn’t done as good in the other games, and I wanted to do good the rest of the season,” Beauchamp said. “Starting today, I was really ready to just go and finish and attack the rim.”
There was even a window for a third buzzer-beater late in the third quarter, but Beauchamp was subbed out moments before the horn.
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Buntin later joked that it was “bad coaching” not to leave her in for another chance.
“It felt good to do that,” Beauchamp said.
Beauchamp didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
Verdigris’ offensive explosion wasn’t a solo act.
Eleven different players scored, and 13 grabbed at least 1 rebound as the Lady Cardinals overwhelmed Vinita on the glass 46-34, including a massive 23-11 edge in offensive rebounds.
Addie Russell posted 8 points and 8 rebounds, Adelaide Patterson scored 12 points with 2 boards, and Rilyn Stringfellow added 9 and 1 as Verdigris repeatedly turned second chances into points.
“On offense, we had so many girls just going and getting second shots,” Buntin said. “Averie Deegan early, [Addie Russell], Adelaide, Abbi [Rairdon] … Jackie carried us in the first half and was just incredible on offense. Rilyn in the second half, she kind of took over as well. She had that look in her eye. We have a little offense that’s for her, but usually she waits for the ball to get reversed and then she pops out, but she wasn’t even waiting — she stepped out.”
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The Lady Cardinals committed just 7 turnovers while forcing Vinita into 21. That defensive intensity helped fuel the early run and kept the Lady Hornets from finding any sustained rhythm.
“We have not been good consistently on the defensive end,” Buntin said. “Other teams are getting to the paint way too regularly, and they’re shooting in the high 50s inside the line. That’s not normally what we are. We really challenged them, and I thought tonight the girls really flew around, our rotations were a lot crisper and we blocked out, we rebounded.
“Forcing turnovers was definitely a conscious effort,” he added. “Their point guard tore her ACL last week, so we knew that they would struggle. [Vinita coach Nathan Wylie] had to have his post player come out and have her handle the basketball, so it was a concerted effort to get some more run-and-jumps and force turnovers for easy baskets.”
Verdigris wasted little time asserting control, jumping out to a 22-6 lead after one quarter behind Beauchamp’s first buzzer-beater. The Lady Cardinals stretched the margin to 43-16 by halftime, capped by Beauchamp’s second buzzer-beating triple. She had 18 points at halftime.
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By the time Stringfellow’s free throws pushed Verdigris to 50-18 early in the third quarter, the outcome was no longer in question.
Vinita, now 7-10, was led by Sara Hency’s 8 points and 6 rebounds, while Blakley Collins scored 7, all in the fourth quarter. Jolee Doggett paced the team on the boards with 8 rebounds.
The Lady Hornets struggled to protect the ball and generate clean looks, managing just 2 3-pointers and shooting 9-of-18 from the free-throw line.
The Lady Cardinals faced Rogers County rival Catoosa in the Port City Classic third-place game Monday — part of a tournament that began Jan. 22 but was delayed by winter weather, creating a rare 10-day gap between rounds.
Verdigris then travels to Oologah for another intracounty matchup Tuesday night.
