MUSTANG — Seconds after the buzzer sounded and Classen SAS’s halfcourt heave fell short, Paige Pendley leapt into the arms of fellow senior Izzy Cummins as the two Lady Owl seniors collapsed to their knees with their arms wrapped around each other at halfcourt.
After watching a 17-point second half lead slip away and needing a comeback of its own in the extra session, top-seeded Elgin (26-2) survived a thriller, clipping eighth-seeded Classen SAS, 60-58 in overtime of a Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal on Thursday afternoon at Mustang High School.
“Instant tears,” Pendley said with a smile, referring to their embrace. “Survive and advance.”
Elgin will meet fifth-seeded Muldrow in the Class 4A semifinals — the spot the Owls were ousted a season ago — at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon at the Fairgrounds.
“Being in the semifinals last year, the girls were hungry and wanted to come back,” said Elgin coach Jerrod Jones whose Owls won the program’s fourth state tournament game ever, including last year’s quarterfinal victory. “It says a lot for the girls to stick together and make the winning plays they needed to make at the right time. They’ve learned how to play in and win tight games and they know the state tournament is chock-full of good teams.”
Another sour state tournament exit for the Owls seemed inevitable when Micah Gray, who scored 10 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, swished a corner 3-pointer to put Classen SAS (28-3) up 58-54 in the waning moments of OT.
But Pendley — who scored a game-high 22 points, including five in overtime — wasn’t about to give in. She answered right back with a slicing layup to make it 58-56 before the Owls were gifted a pair of missed SAS free throws.
Pendley posted up inside the free throw line and spun to her right to kiss a shot off the glass and in while drawing the foul for an emphatic and-1 to tie the game at 58 with 5.8 seconds left.
“I’ve been telling the team all week, ‘We need to keep our composure. We’re older, more mature and have been in these situations,’” Pendley said. “Last year was hard. This year for us seniors we realize that this is it. We didn’t want to go out like this.”
Wanting to script this season with a Gold Ball ending, Pendley made the free throw out of a timeout to complete the three-point play and give Elgin a 59-58 lead.
Classen then committed the costliest of its 16 turnovers when the Comets stepped over the end line on the ensuing inbounds pass, giving the ball back to Elgin.
Kailah Ballou, who scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half, made the first free throw and missed the second to get the clock rolling with three seconds as the Comets’ halfcourt heave fell well short.
“I didn’t realize we had won until the buzzer sounded,” Ballou said. “It didn’t hit me until then.”
After Classen’s opening bucket on the opening possession, Elgin didn’t trail until the final 15 seconds of regulation, when the Comets — who went on an 11-2 run in the final 3:15 to force overtime — took a 52-50 lead on a layup.
There was no panic for the Owls, who went to the charity stripe once Izzy Cummins — who scored all 11 of her points in the second half — was fouled with seven seconds left and made the shot before it was waved off and called on the floor. Cummins needed to make both to force overtime and canned both between a timeout.
“For all the mistakes the seniors made against the press, they all stepped up on the free throw line,” said Jones, whose Owls have played in nine games this season within five points. “They are able to go through the tough times and persevere. That’s big this time of the year being survive and advance.”
After an Aleigha Lowe layup in the third quarter, Elgin had its largest lead of the game at 17 points thanks to its defense, which held Classen scoreless for the first 5:45 out of the break.
The Elgin lead stood at 16 points, 40-24, entering the fourth quarter, but Classen refused to bow out in such fashion, scoring five unanswered in the first 45 seconds to cut it to single digits, 40-31.
Elgin knew the SAS storm was coming.
Cummins swished a pull-up jumper with no breathing room to push the lead back to 10 points, 48-38 before eight Elgin fourth quarter turnovers began to mount.
Point guard Jordan Harrison, who led SAS with 17 points, made a slicing layup to make it 48-43 with 2:30 to play. An Elgin turnover turned into a Madison Roberts corner 3 to make it 50-48 before the Owls committed their eighth turnover of the quarter with 1:20 left on an errant crosscourt pass. Thirteen seconds later, Darianna Buggs, who had nine points tied the game at 50 with a putback.
“We had seniors making silly mistakes,” Jones said.
The Owls jumped out to a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter as Cassandra Colong, who chipped in five points and got a friendly roll on a jumper in overtime to pull the Owls within one, drained a 3-pointer after the Comets’ opening bucket while Pendley banked in a runner to make it 14-8. Classen committed seven first quarter turnovers and the Owls drew back-to-back charges in the final two minutes of the opening quarter.
Lexia Carter splashed a corner trey in the opening minute of the second quarter before Pendley, who scored 12 points in the first half, drained a deep 3-pointer off an inbounds pass and sank a floater in the lane to give Elgin a 22-17 lead, which was 24-19 at halftime.
The Owls got in a groove on both ends in the third quarter as Ballou made a swooping baseline layup followed by Izzy’s friendly bounce on a tough-angled layup to build a 28-19 lead.
“Kailah excelled this afternoon, defensively and held their go-to girl, Buggs, pretty steadily, and she’s legit,” Jones said. “Energy from the defensive side sometimes translates to the offensive end. To hit that reverse layup was huge.”
Cummins also drained a wing trey out of a timeout to push the lead to 34-21 as the Owls built the 17-point lead they would wind up needing to sustain Classen’s 26-point fourth quarter surge.
“It’s hard to make a comeback, but all those close games over the year has built them for this moment and this tournament run,” Jones said. “Hopefully we can keep it going.”
ELGIN 60, CLASSEN SAS 58 (OT)
ELGIN — Colong 2-0-5, Carter 1-0-3, Izzy Cummins 4-2-11, Lowe 1-0-2, Paige Pendley 7-7-22, Kailah Ballou 4-7-15. Totals 20-16-60.
CLASSEN SAS — Jordan Harrison 6-5-17, Micah Gray 6-0-15, Buggs 4-1-9, M. Kennedy 3-0-8, Roberts 2-1-7, A. Kennedy 1-0-2. Totals 12-10-58.
Elgin;14;10;16;12;8;—;60
SAS;11;8;7;26;6;—;58
3-point goals: Elgin — Carter, Colong, I. Cummins, Pendley. SAS — Gray 3, Roberts 2, Kennedy 2.