Lawton High basketball swept by Del City

It was a rough night for the Lawton High basketball teams.

The girls tested No. 20 Del City in a close 54-43 loss, while the boys let an early lead slip in a 58-46 defeat to the No. 11 Eagles. Despite the losses, both teams proved they have plenty of potential as the season moves forward.

The Wolverines return to action Friday against city rival MacArthur in what are sure to be spirited contests. The girls' game tips at 6 p.m., and the boys play immediately after the conclusion of that battle at 7:30 p.m.

Turnovers, cold shooting drown LHS girls The Wolverines couldn't get out of their own way.

LHS suffered from several miscues against Del City, leading to an 11-point loss, 54-43, at Wolverine Gym on Tuesday night. The defeat keeps the girls searching for their first win of the season, dropping them to 0-4.

The Wolverines were within five points after the first quarter, but turnovers kept them from maintaining any momentum they sought to build. LHS forced 24 turnovers, but those were counteracted by the 21 it surrendered.

Wolverines coach Otis Gentry said his team must eliminate turnovers to have a chance to win close games.

"We had too many turnovers, and to me, that was one of the biggest things about the game," Gentry said. "Most of them were unforced turnovers, thinking someone was open when they weren't open. We need to clear up turnovers."

Turnovers weren't the only reason LHS failed to pick up the win, though.

The Wolverines experienced a cold shooting night, making only 27 percent of their attempted shots. Tyeshia Anderson is normally the leading scorer for LHS, but she finished 2-of-16 from the floor for 12 points. Her first field goal didn't come until 4:40 left in the fourth.

Although Gentry was upset about the shooting performance, he said free throws also proved to be detrimental to the Wolverines' cause.

"I felt really bad about it because Shilyn (Freeman), (Anderson) and Tamara (Toles) didn't hit their shots," Gentry said. "Nothing was going in. Our biggest issue, though, was free throws. We missed a ton of free throws again tonight, and we can't win ballgames like that.

"It's something we need to work on, but it's still early in the season and we play Mac on Friday, so we can't come out shooting cold. We need to spend extra time at practice shooting and also working on free throws."

Destiny Chew led the team with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

Inexperience haunts Wolverine boys Everything seemed to be going the Wolverines' way in the first quarter.

Led by center Ashawnti Hunter, LHS jumped out to an 18-14 lead, but things began to unravel thereafter. Hunter was forced to sit for most of the second frame and all of the third, and Del City took advantage on his absence on the way to a 58-46 victory.

With Hunter on the bench, the Eagles went on a 35-17 run, putting the Wolverines in a difficult situation. Hunter finished with 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting, but he managed only three points in the second half.

Hunter re-entered the game in the fourth, and with his dominating presence in the paint, LHS won the fourth quarter by an 11-9 tally.

Wolverines coach Eric Wiley said he liked the way his team responded with its 6-6 center back on the floor.

"I told him when I put him back in in the fourth quarter, if you foul out, so be it -- we gotta play," Wiley said. "The fourth quarter is the best quarter I've seen them play so far, and I don't know if it was desperation, but they played with heart and they played hard."

However, Wiley attributed most his team's struggles to inexperience.

According to Wiley, the Wolverines returned only three players from last season's squad, with Hunter, who averaged 16 points per game, being the most notable.

Unfortunately, with so many new players on his hands this season, Wiley has had to focus most of the practices on teaching rather than building upon already developed skills.

Although the growing pains are evident after the Wolverines' 3-3 start, Wiley said he is confident his team will continue improving as the season picks up.

"Our main thing is repetition," Wiley said. "Most of our guys have not had 10 practices yet, and we have a lot of guys on the court who don't know what to do yet. I was telling them to not hang their heads because we're going to get better, we just need have to have more repetition.

"We had our points, and we had our moments. But like I said, it's going to take repetition. You can put a team together and it looks good on paper, but without practice, they're not very good. We just need more practice."

#LawtonHigh #basketball