The 38th Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic is in the books and the Alva Ladybugs came away with the title as 2014 comes to a close.
Class 2A No. 1 Alva (8-0) defeated Class 4A No. 2 Anadarko (6-2), 57-41, in the championship on Wednesday evening.
Alva coach Eric Smith said his team was tested.
“Well, we got off to a slow start,” Smith said. “Anadarko put a lot of pressure on us with their full court man and their trapping and pressing is really good. They’re really quick and they’re well-coached and a good ball club.”
Anadarko got a couple of steals and didn’t allow an Alva field goal until Kally Gordon’s three midway through the first quarter. Gordon made tow from long range in the period and helped to Ladybugs keep to within one point after eight minutes.
“We turned the ball over early, but we fought back and played really well defensively, for the most part,” Smith said. “Then we started shooting the ball pretty well and got the lead at halftime. And then in the second half we really played some excellent basketball. We made free throws and handled the basketball really well.”
Anadarko played tough and had nine second chance points in the second quarter, but Alva out-rebounded the Lady Warriors overall, 40-15, through the whole game.
“Lora Riley was outstanding on the boards. Kally Gordon came off the bench and hit three threes for us. Whitney Randall came off the bench and gave us great minutes and rebounding.
“Bailey Forell’s defense on (Tandra) King and Jaden’s on (Ashley) Beatty was outstanding. And then 6-foot-2 Nicole Ritter can block shots and rebound and be a force inside did a good job playing defense.”
Jaden Hobbs and Ashley Beatty put on a scoring show for their respective teams. Hobbs had a game-high 27 points and Beatty put in 24. This was indicative of their tournament performances – Hobbs, the tournament’s MVP, averaged 22.3 points over the three days and Beatty, also on the all-tournament team, averaged 21 ppg.
Alva led 30-25 at halftime and opened the second half with a 14-3 run and didn’t look back.
Class 3A No. 1 Washington (10-1) took the third-place game, 42-39, Plainview (8-2). Nevada Denton hit the game-winning jumper with 14 seconds left over the No. 5 team in Class 4A.
Class A’s top team Cheyenne-Reydon defeated Class 5A No. 6 Shawnee, 50-43, in the fifth-place game.
Class 2A No. 4 Fairview nearly doubled up the No. 1 team in Class B, Red Oak, winning 67-35 in the day’s opening game for seventh place.
Fairview 67, Red Oak 35
FHS 12 19 20 16 67
ROHS 9 11 8 7 35
FHS (3-3) > Sadie Mason 19, Taylor Cell 10, Baylor Reese 9, Sydney Hutchinson 8, Tanara Combs 7, Abby Smith 4, Taylor Sharp 4, Karley Boyer 3, Nicole Kippenberger 3.
ROHS (10-3) > Brittany Ward 10, Rainey Mauzey 9, Hannah Mabry 5, Paige Campagna 3, Shay Paul 3, Miranda Rainey 3, Savanna Lovell 2.
Cheyenne 50, Shawnee 43
CHS 16 8 10 16 50
SHS 9 9 11 14 43
CHS (10-1) > Katie Sander 13, Taylor Swisher 11, Summer Pennington 8, Monti Sappenfield 8, Lynanne Hendrickson 5, Morgan Latta 5.
SHS (3-4) > Monique Tramble 14, Kelsey Simmons 13, Shiann Tramble 6, Jacie Satawake 5, Logan Banner 2, Alexis Freeman 2, Kristen Grabin 1.
Washington 42, Plainview 39
WHS 3 9 18 14 42
PHS 12 6 8 13 39
WHS (10-1) > Nevada Denton 16, Kelsey Johnson 11, Kailee Orr 6, Dagan Lampkin 5, Maddie Barker 2. Jamie Clarke 2.
PHS (8-2) > Megan Shelton 12, Rebecca Wright 11, Hayden Hunt 7, Ally Parham 7, Hannah Ross 2.
Alva 57, Anadarko 41
Anadarko 14 11 7 9 41
Alva 13 17 14 13 57
Anadarko (6-2) > Ashley Beatty 24, Tandra King 6, Kaytlen Johnson 5, Cara Osceola 4, Aliyah White 2.
Alva (8-1) > Jaden Hobbs 27, Kally Gordon 9, Whitney Randall 7, Bailey Forell 4, Nicole Ritter 4, Lora Riley 3, Morgan Shiever 3.