Clean Sweep: Elk City defeats Hobart at home

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Published on Monday, 13 February 2012 15:35

By Derek Brown
Daily Elk Citian

The Elkettes managed to get their first win in the Pioneer Center this season on Friday night.

Elk City hosted the Hobart Lady Bearcats in their third meeting. The Elkettes were beaten by Hobart twice this year before hosting the Lady Bearcats. 

The third game against Hobart the Elkettes hung on to a 23-15 lead at halftime and a 37-23 lead going into the fourth quarter to beat the Lady Bearcats 40-35.

"I think the big key in the game was Hobart only shoots 23 percent from the field. I'm telling you right now they've got a good offensive team. They've got four girls that can score," said Garrette Mantle, Elk City head coach. "This is a big win for us. One that we needed to get against a team that's beat us twice."

The Elkette defense forced Hobart to shoot 10 of 42 as Elk City shot 13 of 36 from the field. 

Mikayla Harrison led the game with 15 points for the Elkettes. Erin Hutchinson chipped in eight points in the win. Kylar Ard was Hobart's leading scorer with 10 points. 

The Elkettes rise to 4-17 while Hobart drops to 12-8. Elk City will play Woodward in the Pioneer Center for Senior Night on Tuesday. 

In the final quarter Elk City was 0:30 away from winning, but Hobart came rallying back getting the game to within two points, 37-35. With 6.9 seconds left to play Harrison was called to the line and made both free throws to seal the win.

The Elkettes were outscored 12-3 in the fourth quarter. 

Elk City was able to fight through turnovers as they coughed up the ball 24 times compared to Hobart's 16. The Elkettes left 12 points off the board by shooting 9 for 21 from the charity stripe.

"You hate to be pessimistic about it but the thing about it is if we shoot better from the line and we don't turn the ball over as much we probably win by a bigger margin." said Mantle.

BOYS

The Big Elks made the Hobart Bearcats look like a turnover prone team on Friday night. 

Elk City beat Hobart early in the season at their gym. Friday night the Big Elks protected their home court with their highest offensive output with a 73-48 win.

"Just a lot of good things tonight. A good win. We broke that losing streak that we had going there," said Mantle. 

Elk City forced Hobart to lose the ball 25 times. The Elks did not let the turnovers go to waste as they had 28 points off of them. Elk City had 11 turnovers.

"I don't know that we forced them as much. A lot of them were unforced to be honest with you. But we did press and trap a little bit more than what we have been," said Mantle. 

Elk City converted from the stripe by going 22 of 29. The Elks shot 75.9 percent from the line, an increased percentage.

"It's the percentage that we wanted," said Mantle. "To shoot 76 percent from the free throw line is outstanding. That's good stuff. If we keep that going we'll be alright."

Luke Lewallen poured in 27 points en route to a double-double with 10 rebounds. Joby Gray was coming off the Cache game where he suffered a broken nose and scored 15 points against Hobart. Donnie Jones chipped in 10 points in the win.

"I though Donnie really played well for us," said Mantle. "Luke had a really good game."