Demonettes move forward in Crowder Invitational

By JAYSON KNIGHT

The Crowder Invitational had its second day of competition Tuesday.

Crowder had both of their varsity teams as well as two junior varsity teams on the court.

Crowder’s varsity girls were able to come out ahead of Wister’s ladies Tuesday 52-19. The boys weren’t so lucky, falling to Central Sallisaw’s Tigers 62-53.

In the girl’s game, Brittiany Smith found her way to the basket early in the contest and had the best first quarter of anyone on the court. Surprising since Alex Tucker was on fire as usual. Tucker was able to rack up a few assists. One of which was for a score by Amy Blagg.

Smith also managed to come down with offensive rebounds and go back up with them with authority. Also, she destroyed a Wister layup attempt with a block and the ball fell right into her hands.

Later on, Tucker was fouled while on offense and had to rest a sore leg. Freshman Skylar Wood came in for relief and almost immediately registered a steal.

Skylar Johnson of Wister scored half her team’s points for the first quarter with a baseline layup.

Tucker managed to nail another shot just before the end of the first.

The second quarter got off to a slow start. For nearly the first two minutes, there was no score at all. Then suddenly, Kelsey “K-Mart” Martin started a scoring frenzy. She knocked down a jumpshot that was key in jump-starting the offense. The second quarter would become the most productive for the Demonettes as far as points.

Paige Tucker showed incredible range once again. She hit two threes in the quarter, one of which being from closer to half court than the three-point line.

Smith showed awesome ability in ripping the ball away from defenders as soon as they picked up their dribble.

Sierra Romine had a good second quarter too. She was able to come away with some offensive rebounds with distinction. She was able to put one back herself. On defense, she came away with a steal that she drove the length of the court before being fouled by Tiffany Wadley of Wister. After knocking down one free throw, Romine ended up with the ball again and made a layup from rushing the baseline.

By the end of the second quarter, the game was out of hand. With the score 33-6 at halftime, Wister only scored 10 points in the first three quarters.

The second half was more of the same. If you blinked, you missed even more mind-blowing turnovers, breathtaking layups, and astonishing assists from A. Tucker.

A. Tucker did find one great place for a layup: K-Mart. The senior post-player, Martin, hit more layups in the fourth quarter and had a very impressive head-fake jumpshot where she lost her defender with a smooth pivot and then banked it off the backboard for a score.

“I was very proud of how my younger players performed,” Head Coach of the Crowder Demonettes, Hollye Jernigen said about her team’s youth after the game.

Crowder’s ladies will face Central Sallisaw next. The Lady Tigers owned McAlester’s JV Lady Buffs in the first round 70-16.

The Demonettes left the Wister Lady Wildcats charred. But the guys weren’t as fortunate.

Trey Rogers of Central Sallisaw started the scoring in the second game. He lived up to his name, nailing a three after nobody scored in the first minute-and-a-half.

Gary Romine was dominant down low, as he usually is. He was able to go up and get some layups in thick traffic. Ross Tucker was able to hit from beyond the arc and assisted Romine with a layup shortly after.

Central Sallisaw answered back with a layup that turned into a three-point play after the shooter got fouled.

Romine was able to snatch down a defensive rebound and dish it off to Bradley Bowden. Bowden hit Romine open down low and he laid one in for a score.

In the third quarter, Romine followed up his first-half play by stealing the ball and getting it to Keyton Jameson. The game was close until early in the third quarter, the Demons lost two starters for the rest of the game, Romine and Bowden.

Without two of its playmakers, the team couldn’t pull it out as Central Sallisaw won.

The Tigers will now go on to play Hartshorne Thursday who defeated McAlester’s JV unit on Monday.

Oktaha’s boys team is one of the top-ranked teams in the state at 2A for a reason. They beat out Crowder’s JV 71-36.

Oktaha’s girls team was advantageous as well and will face Hartshorne’s Lady Miners today at 7:20 p.m. Hartshorne is coming off a hard-fought, close game with the Canadian Lady Cougars that was held on Monday.

Tonight’s action looks exciting at the Crowder Invitational with two boys games and one girls game. The first game will start at 6 p.m. between Crowder’s JV boys and Canadian’s Cougars. The last matchup of the evening will be between Oktaha and Wister which starts at 8:40 p.m.

Contact Jayson Knight at jknight@mcalesternews.com

Text Only