Woodward downs Elk City at home

Details

Published on Wednesday, 15 February 2012 12:31

Derek Brown
Daily Elk Citian

The Elkettes were hoping to end the regular season with a win over Woodward on Tuesday night.

On Senior Night Elk City hosted the Lady Boomers, but were unable to rally in the fourth quarter and fell 51-47.

"I just thought the girls defensively played uncanny," said Garrette Mantle, Elk City head coach. "We talked a little bit about how we wanted to defend and how we wanted to cover. Man we did a good job tonight."

The Elkettes trailed 49-47 with 51.9 seconds left to play. Mikayla Harrison drove into the paint and threw up a shot that would have tied the game with under a minute to go. Harrison's shot fell short.

"There are two periods of thought on that. One is to call timeout and set something up. But I'm thinking we've got a young lady that's averaging close to 20 points a game, and she has 24 that night. If she's free and able to get to the front of the rim you let her go," said Mantle. "She's made a bunch of those this year, and that one just didn't go in."

The Elkettes fall to 4-18 on the year and Woodward rises to 7-14. Elk City will host Weatherford for the District Tournament on Friday.

Harrison had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds in the first half. Harrison finished with 24 points and 14 boards.

Cedee Bell scored 16 on the Elkettes, Mikala Wynn had 14, and Anna Hunter had eight points. 

Woodward beat the Elkettes earlier in the season at home 60-54. Hunter scored 26 and Wynn put in 15. This time the Elkettes were able to contain them as much as they could.

"Wynn gets 14 (points), but man she made some tough shots. She made some tough shots," said Mantle. "The achilles heel is making bump shots around the basket when we're able to get it into that area."

BOYS

The first meeting of Woodward and Elk City was a 67-47 Boomer win. This time the game was played in the Pioneer Center and it was a different game.

The Big Elks trailed the Boomers 44-41 after three quarters. Elk City played catchup throughout the final eight minutes.

Brock Walker hit a 3-pointer with 1:30 left to play to pull Elk City within one possession, trailing 39-37.

The Elks could not break through the hump and lost 66-58.

"I thought we battled, I thought we really played hard," said Mantle.

Woodward's Taylan Iliff scored a game high 24 points on the Elks.

"We didn't ever lose him. We didn't leave him open. We were aware that we were trying to no-catch him. Kid made some plays," said Mantle.

Donnie Jones led Elk City with 13, and Luke Lewallen chipped in 11 points while only playing 19 minutes.

The Elks will enter the postseason with an 8-14 record as Woodward jumps to 12-10.

Elk City was able to tame Woodward's 3-point shooting allowing them to make 2 of 14 from outside.

"They've been on a roller coaster ride all year long. Two reasons why, they shoot a lot of threes and depend on it and they depend on a lot of sophomores to make plays," said Mantle.

The Boomers were called to the charity stripe 41 times. Woodward made 26 free throws.

"They're hard to guard," said Mantle. "We've got to stream help and make them make shots from the perimeter, but we have to defend these guy differently. Because they can shoot it. When you defend the perimeter, that opens up the running game."