BETHANY — Untimely turnovers wound up costing Tipton a Cinderella-run.
The seventh-seeded Tigers gave No. 2 Frontier all it could handle in the Class A girls state tournament quarterfinals at Southern Nazarene University, but Tipton (26-3) let a trip to the semifinals and four-point lead in the final minutes slip out of its grasp in an agonizing 63-61 loss to Frontier (27-1) on Thursday night.
“I told the girls in the locker room we’re not gonna hang our head. We took the No. 2 team in the state to the wire and should’ve won,” said Tipton coach Teddy White, whose Tigers return all but one starter. “We had it in our grasp and just couldn’t close the door.”
Tipton committed its two most costly turnovers of the game in the final minute as the Frontier point guard Morgan Romero, who led the Mustangs with 24 points, 19 of which came in the second half, hit a slicing layup to tie the game at 57 with 1:20 left.
Tarrin Tyler, who chipped in 10 points, converted an and-1 to give Tipton a 61-59 lead with 45 seconds left. The Tigers were ready to pounce.
But Tipton committed its 19th and final turnover moments later as Romero snagged a steal and made yet another floater to give Frontier a 63-61 lead with 16 seconds left.
“Turnovers down the stretch hurt us when we had a chance to put them away. It was ours to win,” White said. “We showed a bit of youth, got a little hurried and excited.”
The Tigers had one final chance, but a corner 3-pointer was off the mark and Romero ran away with the rebound and dribbled out the clock as the buzzer sounded on the Storm’s court, the same place where Frontier coach Brett Tahah had seen last season come to an end when coaching the Lady Owls in the Class 4A semifinals.
The fourth quarter featured 12 missed free throws, with the Tigers missing eight freebies from the charity stripe.
Gabby Rodriguez, who led the Tigers with 26 points, converted a three-point play to tie the game at 48 with six minutes left.
With 5:49 left, Tipton took its first lead of the game since 5-2 in the first quarter. The teams traded free throws while Tipton built a 57-53 lead with less than two minutes remaining before the pair of final turnovers doomed the Tigers’ upset bid.
Tipton forward R’Reana McBride, who scored nine of her 13 points in the third quarter, terrorized Frontier on the glass and made several putbacks, including a bucket to put trim Frontier’s lead to 46-45 at the end of the third quarter. The junior also made a putback off a missed free throw to cut the Frontier halftime lead to two, 30-28.
“They’ve been big all year,” White said of Rodriguez and McBride. “R’Reana is so long and athletic and can get to balls you don’t think she can get to. She gets putbacks that way and has turned into a great passer. Gabby can do anything you need her to do, moving from point to the post this year. She’s so versatile.”
Frontier, last year’s runner-up, snagged eight steals in the first half, but Tipton remained poised thanks to an early Tyler trey to energize the Tipton crowd followed by a pair of Rodriguez and-1s in the first quarter.
FRONTIER 63, TIPTON 61
Girls
TIPTON — Sheffield 2-0-4, R’Reana McBride 6-1-13, Tarrin Tyler 3-3-10, Gabby Rodriguez 5-15-26, Fierro 2-3-8. Totals 18-22-61.
FRONTIER — Morgan Romero 9-5-24, Shelby Black 4-1-13, Lane 4-0-9, Marilyn Goodman 5-2-12, Werdey 2-1-5. Totals 24-9-63.
Tipton;13;15;17;16;—;61
Frontier;16;14;16;17;—;63
Cyril girls look out of sorts in 40-31 quarterfinal loss to Smithville
BETHANY — Smithville’s penultimate possession tortured the Cyril girls as seconds dragged on in agony.
With Smithville playing keep away with a nine-point lead under three minutes, Cyril had several near steals, but the Braves protected the ball in the possession that lasted more than two minutes to seal the win and hand the Pirates a 40-31 loss in the Class A state tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night at Southern Nazarene University.
“That’s probably the worst I’ve seen the girls play all year long,” Cyril coach Shane McLemore said. “That’s not how you want to go out. You want to be peaking.”
Cyril (22-5) didn’t peak at the right time and lost in the quarterfinals for a second straight season.
Brooklyn Rackley, who led the Pirates with 11 points, scored a layup off a steal in the final 30 seconds, but the Braves’ Hannah Caldwell got a pump fake and layup at the buzzer, showcasing Cyril’s lackluster effort as Smithville’s final bucket encapsulated the Pirates’ woeful evening.
Cyril committed six turnovers in the first quarter and struggled against the Braves’ extended zone.
Just four minutes into the game, Cyril had committed its fifth turnover which prompted McLemore to show his distaste with the Pirates’ lack of care for the basketball.
“Quit turning the ball over,” McLemore barked.
“We don’t turn the ball over much and one of things we emphasized was not turning the ball over,” McLemore said. “We started turning it over, giving them layups and fouling, trying to chase them. That was aggravating turning the ball over as much as we did.”
Smithville (28-4) got several bunnies and when shots didn’t fall, offensive rebounds haunted Cyril, which never seemed to get back on defense and trailed 13-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Fayth Laughlin, who chipped in eight points, checked back in from foul trouble and got a short jump shot to fall, followed by a steal as the Pirates scored four unanswered in the final two minutes to cut it to 18-14.
Laughlin buried a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter to make it 24-19 but Smithville shortly after jumped back in front by double-digits, 30-19.
“Fayth just couldn’t get going — she had a rough night. Sydney, (Johnson) our best shooter, didn’t hit a 3,” McLemore said. “It was just a bad night.”
This was the fourth straight state tournament for the Pirates, who lose three seniors that won three Caddo County championships together.
“I’m really proud of these girls who have had a great run making the state tournament all four years and the semifinals a couple times,” McLemore said. “They’ve been fun to coach.”
SMITHVILLE 40, CYRIL 31
Girls
CYRIL — Laughlin 2-3-8, Brooklyn Rackley 5-0-11, McLemore 1-0-2, Row 1-1-3, Smith 2-0-4, Young 1-1-3. Totals 12-5-31.
SMITHVILLE — Barnes 1-0-3, Caldwell 3-1-7, K. Barnes 1-0-3, Miller 1-0-2, Emma Routh 6-3-15, Kynsie Brown 5-0-10. Totals 17-4-40.
Cyril;4;10;8;9;—;31
Smith;13;7;10;10;—40