MacArthur’s Sydney Gunter tries to find room to operate as a pair of Coweta players provide the defense during Thursday’s Class 5A quarterfinal game at Skiatook High School.
SKIATOOK — MacArthur coach David Vann’s worst fear became a reality on Thursday afternoon.
For the second time in three games, the Lady Highlanders saw a halftime lead disappear in the second half, and this time it cost them their season. Mac was outscored 24-15 in the second half, leading to an agonizing 48-39 loss to No. 9 Coweta in the first round of the girls Class 5A state tournament at the Brooks Walton Activity Center in Skiatook.
“I tried to tell them at halftime, ‘Remember the Woodward game’, but we fell apart,” Vann said. “We just couldn’t find it, and it’s my fault. I feel bad — I really do. Overall, it’s a tough loss.”
Despite their second-half struggles, the No. 7 Lady Highlanders (17-9) managed to keep the game within reach. When it seemed all the momentum was on the Tigers’ side, Erin Henry made a three-point play that tied the score at 32 with six minutes remaining.
Unfortunately for Mac, that momentum shift was a short-lived experience.
Victoria Lewis received a technical foul only 33 seconds later, and the frustrations began building for the Lady Highlanders.
Coweta (15-12) took advantage of the opportunity, using the senior’s blunder to spark a 16-7 run the rest of the way to secure the victory. Tamera Thomas hit a 3-pointer during that span with under three minutes to play, but to no avail.
Vann said he doesn’t know exactly what Lewis did to receive the technical, but he said it probably came as a result of pent up frustration with the officials.
“She just got frustrated, and that’s something you can’t do,” Vann said. “The refs got to us mentally, and when we got that technical, that turned everything around. The refs got in our heads. Every time we called a timeout, we talked about handling those refs, but we couldn’t get past that.
"There’s nothing we can do about the refs. We were ready to play today, we just couldn’t get the refs out of our heads, and I don’t know why.”
Turnovers in the second half also played a key role in the Lady Highlanders’ demise.
After committing only five turnovers in the first half, Mac turned it over 11 times in the final 16 minutes, seven of which came in the third quarter when it managed only four points. In contrast, Coweta committed 11 first-half turnovers but only four in the second.
The Lady Highlanders’ carelessness with the ball worked in Coweta’s favor, for the Tigers’ top players Linda Brice and Madison Wheat were able to find more open looks.
The pair combined for 17 points in the second half, a staggering 71 percent of Coweta’s scoring output in the half. Brice finished with 17 points, and Wheat added 13.
Mac’s leading scorers experienced the opposite effect after the break.
Victoria Lewis, McKenzie Washington and Sydney Gunter combined for 22 of the Lady Highlanders’ 24 first-half points, but they were kept in check from thereon. The trio managed only six points collectively in the second half, two of which came at the free-throw line.
Lewis led the squad with 11 points and nine rebounds. Washington had 10 points, while Gunter pitched in seven points and 10 rebounds.
“We passed up open shots in the second half,” Vann said. “It wasn’t that they stopped us, we just got complacent on the offensive end. When we had open shots, we wouldn’t take them, and we couldn’t run our offense.”
Despite the disappointing early exit in the team’s first state tournament appearance since 2010, Mac has plenty of promise moving forward.
The Lady Highlanders lose only one starter — Lewis — returning the young core of Gunter (junior), Henry (sophomore) and freshmen Washington and Thomas.
“We’ll be really good next year, we just have to put it together,” Vann said. “Girls mature faster than boys, and we have to work on our shooting and our defense. We’ll be back — I know we will. We have to be willing to put in the time, the work and the effort in the spring, and that’s the issue. We can’t settle for just this one year.
"(Gunter) is going to be a senior, and I know she’s going to come back and try to do it all, but it’s going to be hard to get back here. We have to build on the bench. If we can get depth and work on our mental state, we’re going to be all right.”