Comanche girls advance at Stephens County Tournament

MARLOW - The Comanche girls advanced to the semifinals of the Stephens County Tournament on Thursday with a 42-33 win over the Wauika on Monday.

The Lady Indians, the No. 6 seed, used their defense and outside shooting to knock off the No. 3 seed Lady Eagles. 

“I thought we played really well,” said Braydon Robinson, Comanche head coach. “Our big emphasis was (Jasmine) Henry because I feel like she’s one of the best post players we played all year. Our emphasis was really to dig in. I had some young pups that I was relying on to guard her and we held her to three points. I’m super proud of the way we were playing in there.”

Comanche struggled in its inside game, but three players - Jentry Whaley, Cianna O’Connor and Raelee Ellis - had their outside game working as the trio combined for nine three-pointers, led by Whaley with four.

Robinson said it was a much better performance than when the team played on the same floor against Marlow last Friday night. The Lady Outlaws won in overtime.

“Our girls were a little angry about how they played Friday night, so I think they were extra motivated today to come out and play better,” Robinson said. “But, we’re still going to work on getting the ball inside trying to score. Our guards can only lead us so far, so we’ve got to have both parts of the game.”

Waurika started with the advantage, taking the early lead and maintaining it throughout most of the opening quarter, taking a 10-6 lead into the second quarter.

Comanche would come back with back-to-back three-pointers by Ellis and O’Connor to open the second quarter giving the Lady Indians the lead for the first time in the game. 

Waurika’s Charly Sellers answered with a three-pointer to give the Lady Eagles the lead back at 13-12, but a basket by Maicee Combs at the 5:31 mark would give Comanche the lead back for good. 

The Lady Indians ramped up their pressure defense and would go on to outscore the Lady Eagles, 14-5, in the quarter to take a 20-15 halftime lead.

Comanche kept the momentum going in the third quarter, scoring the first eight points, including back-to-back threes by Whaley to increase the lead to double digits. The Lady Indians would lead by as many as 16 points before settling for a 34-20 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Waurika came back in the fourth quarter to make the game interesting in the final four minutes of the game, but they would get no closer than nine points as Comanche held on for the win.

The Lady Indians, the only team on Monday to advance as a lower seed, will take on No. 2 seed Ryan, a 59-18 winner over No. 7 seed Central High, on Thursday at 4 p.m.  In other girls’ games on Monday, top seed Empire defeated No. 8 Bray-Doyle, 67-14, and No. 4 seed Velma-Alma defeated No. 5 seed Marlow, 56-49. 

Empire will play Velma-Alma in the winner’s bracket at 6:40 p.m. on Thursday. Waurika and Central High will meet up at 4 p.m. on Friday and Marlow and Bray-Doyle will play at 6:40 p.m. on Friday in the consolation bracket.