NEWCASTLE — The final day of the Sweet Pea Tournament in Newcastle was indeed “sweet” for Elgin.
Both teams walked away with hardware, for the boys claimed the third-place prize with a surprisingly comfortable 70-43 win over rival Cache, and the girls took home the tourney championship in a 64-54 decision over a pesky MacArthur squad.
The Owls return to action Tuesday for a home doubleheader against Weatherford, with the girls tipping at 6:30 p.m. and boys contest following the conclusion.
The Cache boys (12-5) take on Altus at home at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The Mac girls (10-5) take to the road again on Tuesday against Class 5A No. 10 Piedmont. Of the Highlanders’ 15 games this season, only two have been on their home court.
Elgin girls sour past Mac for tourney title
MacArthur will have to wait to secure its first tournament championship of the season.
Elgin built an early commanding lead behind the hot hand of Izzy Cummins, and Paige Pendley took care of the rest in the Eagles’ 64-54 win over the Highlanders for the Sweet Pea Tournament championship. Mac has finished second in each of its three tournament appearances this season.
Cummins scored 11 of her 17 points in the first quarter, hitting three 3-pointers in the process. Pendley handled the scoring load for the remainder of the contest, finishing with 26 points to finish as the game’s MVP.
Owls coach Brett Tahah said Pendley’s dominating performance has been a long time coming.
“It was a great team effort — a lot of people stepped up — but I’m glad to see Paige finally have a big game that I know she’s capable of having,” Tahah said. “It’s all about confidence, and tonight she had it.”
Elgin garnered a 22-point lead at 39-17 early in the third quarter thanks to an 11-3 run continued from the first half, and things were looking dire for Mac. The Highlanders had been in similar situations before, though, and they weren’t quite ready to hand the Owls the win without a fight.
The Highlanders outscored Elgin 37-25 the rest of the way thanks to an epic scoring streak from Sydney Gunter, who finished with 25 points, but it wasn’t enough.
Despite his team’s early struggles, Mac coach David Vann said he was proud of the way the girls responded in the second half.
“I’m not sure what happened in the first half, but in the second half we fought back and played hard and still put up over 50 points,” Vann said. “I just can’t believe we win a game (last night) and get that adrenaline and we get to the championship and we weren’t excited.”
Tahah gave credit to Mac for its tenacity down the stretch, but she said she was disappointed with the way the Owls’ defense played in the second half.
“Giving up 37 points in any half is unacceptable,” Tahah said. “We try to hold teams under 40, so we definitely need to get back to the defensive mindset. I feel like we played a little relaxed and like we already had it won.”
However, perhaps the biggest deciding factor in the game was free throws.
The Highlanders shot only 11-of-22 from the line, compared to Elgin’s 21-of-25 (84 percent) outing. Even a few more made free throws could’ve changed the momentum in Mac’s direction, but the shots just wouldn’t fall.
“We would make one and miss one, make one and miss one,” Vann said. “We missed too many free throws, and we have to get better at that. Free throws can win or lose you games, but we’re going to get into practice and get better.”
The win marked Elgin’s second tournament title of the season, with the first coming at the Clinton Tournament earlier this month.
Although the Owls will celebrate this accomplishment, Tahah said her team is still taking on the season one game at a time.
“We’re 13-2, and we still have a tough schedule in front of us,” Tahah said. “I’d love to not lose a game from here on out — we just need to keep getting better every day and play with heart and intensity.”
Elgin boys surge late, top Cache for 3rd
What a difference a day can make.
Elgin entered its third-place contest having dropped four of its past five, but things took a positive turn Saturday, for the Owls showed flashes of greatness in a 70-43 win over rival Cache.
The Bulldogs defeated Elgin only 11 days prior on their home court, 44-41.
Elgin coach Ryan Green said whether it was hitting deep-range shots or penetrating the paint, everything seemed to click again for the first time in about two weeks.
“We’ve been struggling offensively, but we fixed some things in our shootaround today and executed and watched some film,” Green said. “We actually made some shots and got the ball down low to establish our post player Yannik (Gruenwald), and he did great for us. Our shooters made shots is the biggest deal.”
Gruenwald controlled the inside for the duration of the contest, capping off an impressive 18-point night with a ferocious dunk in the closing minutes to put an exclamation point on the victory.
Dylan Burk and Holden Bartosovsky were equally dominate from just inside the arc and beyond.
Burk nailed six of the Owls’ 10 3-pointers, finishing with 22 points, while Bartosovsky sunk three 3s of his own on the way to a 17-point outing.
“We know we can shoot the ball really well, especially Dylan,” Green said. “We look for him and we try to get him open, as well as our other guys. Whoever is open is who we want to take the shot.”
None of the pair’s 39 combined points came from the free throw line, but not many of Elgin’s points did. The Owls attempted only three free throws, making two. That is the stark contrast of the team’s 19 made shots from the line in a 57-46 loss to Ada in the semifinals Friday.
While Elgin celebrates its re-emergence, Cache is in search for answers.
The Bulldogs were on a four-game winning streak earlier this weekend, but they exit the Sweet Pea Tournament on a two-game skid, losing by an average of 21 points during that stretch.
However, Cache coach Miles Thompson is not in panic mode. For him, the resolution to his team’s troubles is simple.
“We need to get back to playing defense — we’ve been too laxed,” Thompson said. “Kudos to Elgin, they have a great team. We just ran out of gas tonight.”