By John Haile
OKLAHOMA CITY – Of all the teams in the 2A Girls State Tournament, the Christian Heritage Lady Crusaders may have been the last one people expected to win state. Now, of the teams in Class 2A, the Lady Crusaders are hoisting the trophy.
Unranked Christian Heritage defeated the No. 1 ranked Dale Lady Pirates, 43-34, on Saturday evening inside Jim Norick Arena.
CHA was led by Olivia Curtis, who led all scorers with 11 points and Rylee Langerman with 10 points. Lexie Davis and Mary Kathryn Nuthman also put in much need minutes contributing 9 and 8 points respectively.
The first quarter saw the Lady Pirates jump out to an early 8-3 lead. Coming off two three-pointers by Dani Manning and Taylor Thompson, Dale looked to be in good shape. Christian Heritage was lifted to match the Lady Pirates by Langerman who scored five of the Lady Crusader’s first eight points.
No Lady Pirate managed to break past the 10-point mark. Dale’s high scorer was Hannah Ash who scored nine. Backing up Ash was Claire Chastain with seven points and Thompson with six points.
Every time Dale seemed to put it together with a run and show why they were the tournament favorites, the Lady Crusaders would answer with some fireworks of their own. The Lady Pirates opened up the second period with 6-0 run. Heritage went on a 10-0 run that was finally broken by Claire Chastain’s jumper right before halftime.
In the final quarter, the Lady Crusaders returned to their speed and conditioning. Most of Heritage’s points in the second half came from inside the paint or the free throw line. Heritage ended their state title game shooting 34 percent from the field and hitting a 33 percent of their three pointers. Dale was not so lucky. The Lady Pirates ended the day shooting 27 percent from the field and 20 percent from downtown.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| DHS | 8 | 8 | 6 | 12 |
| CHA | 8 | 10 | 13 | 12 |
Dale: Hannah Ash 9, Claire Chastain 7, Taylor Thompson 6, Dani Manning 5, Rylee Thompson 4, Lacey Savage 2, Mikayla Rutland 1.
Christian Heritage: Olivia Curtis 11, Rylee Langerman 10, Lexie Davis 9, Mary Kathryn Nuthman 8, Myka Parrish 5.