Lady Indians survive to fight another day

PURCELL - The Comanche Lady Indians kept their season alive with a 46-30 win over Lexington in an elimination game at the regional tournament Thursday afternoon.

It was not always pretty, but the Lady Indians did what they had to do to dispose of the Lady Bulldogs. It was a good bounce back game after a disappointing overtime loss last Friday against Frederick.

"I think they responded. I think that (Frederick) game left a bad taste in their mouth last week and so they knew they wanted to come and kind of redeem themselves a little bit," said Megan Robbins, head coach. "Gracee had 10 points, Morris had eight of nine and Kam had eight or nine and I always tell them that's when I feel we have our best games is when everybody is contributing and doing their part."

The Lady Bulldogs held Comanche leading scorer Gracee Miller to zero points in the first half with their box-and-one defense. They had a player in her face most of the game. Miller was able to get to free throw line with her signature drives to the basket and eight of her 10 points came from the free-throw line.

However, the Lady Indians played good defense of their own, holding the Lady Bulldogs without a field goal the entire first half. Comanche held a 16-5 halftime lead.

"We knew what they wanted to do was go through No. 25 (Maddison Manuel), so we had good help on our rotation anytime they tried to get the ball in there and our posts did a good job of controlling her,” Robbins said. “(Overall,) I thought they did a good job and showed up ready to play.”

Comanche never trailed, scoring the first half points of the game on a putback by Kynli Morris and three-pointer by Kamrey Rendon.

Comanche led 9-4 at the end of the first quarter.

In the third quarter, Comanche extended its lead, opening up the quarter on a 13-1 run, which effectively took Lexington out of the game.

While the Lady Bulldogs kept the Lady Indians’ offense in check for much of the game, it did not come without a cost at the free-throw line. Comanche had a big advantage at the line, going 20-of-34 as a team while Lexington was 8-of-13.

The Lady Indians went on to take a 35-15 lead into the fourth quarter where Robbins tried to substitute players in as much as she could with only three players on the bench. The Lady Indians need to keep fresh legs as much as they can as they try to advance through the loser’s bracket.

Comanche moves on to play the loser of tonight’s Hugo and Silo game at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Lone Grove.

Scoring

Comanche (14-9): Gracee Miller, 10; Kamrey Rendon, 9; Breelie Garlinger, 8; Kynli Morris, 8; Karsynn Bowles, 5; Jentry Whaley, 4; Jillian Hushbeck, 2

Lexington (8-16): Maddison Manuel, 10; Lippel, 6; Bean, 5; Rylee Beason, 5; K. Manuel, 2; Abby Sample, 2