OKLAHOMA CITY — Averi Zinn crashed into the State Fair Park logo of basket stanchion on the baseline of Jim Norick Arena and wasn’t remotely fazed by the violent collision.
The pure hustle play by the Anadarko junior guard broke up a breakaway layup off a steal and it prolonged Victory Christian’s fourth quarter field goal drought with the Warriors nursing a double-digit lead.
“It’s just a habit of working hard,” said Averi Zinn, who scored a game-high 14 points. “All of us are in the perfect places to make sure we give them only the hardest possible shot.”
On the ensuing possession against the full court press, Anadarko threw a homerun pass to a streaking Lexi Foreman who collided with the opposite baseline stanchion while making the breakaway layup to ice second-seeded Anadarko’s 46-32 Class 4A semifinal victory over third-seeded Victory Christian on Friday afternoon, sending the Warriors to their first state title game since 2015.
“Eleven,” said Averi Zinn with a laugh when asked on a 10-point scale her level of joy realizing the Warriors will be playing for a state championship today, which will tip at 12:15 p.m. at the State Fairgrounds, where the Warriors will meet fifth-seeded Muldrow (29-1), which dispatched Elgin, 60-50.
Anadarko (26-3) held Victory Christian (24-5) without a field goal the entire fourth quarter and the Warriors shook off a woeful 24 percent first half shooting performance to break a 21-all halftime tie while building a double-digit lead with four third quarter 3-balls to push their winning streak to 20 games.
“We did have a bit of hangover effect from last night, but the main thing is we kept playing defense,” Anadarko coach Jeff Zinn said regarding the short turnaround from a late quarterfinal game to a noon semifinal tipoff. “A lot of times when you’re missing shots in a big atmosphere like this, it’s easy to get down on yourself and not play as good of defense.”
Victory Christian built a 16-9 lead early in the second quarter, and ‘Darko — which forced eight second quarter turnovers to inch back — couldn’t buy a bucket until Averi Zinn posted up on a much bigger defender only to knife her way through the paint and kiss a shot off the window to cut the Conqueror’s lead to a point, 19-18.
The Warriors had missed 19 of their first 24 shots, but Libbi Zinn knew her final shot of the half was going in. Off a last-second pass from her older sister Averi, Libbi Zinn swished a deep wing 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to tie the game at 21 heading into the locker room.
“I knew we needed something. I knew I was capable of it so when I shot it, I knew it was going in,” Libbi Zinn said. “I knew Averi was gonna hit me. ‘I know you’re there and you see me, so hit me.’ It made the shot even sweeter coming from her.”
Libbi’s twin sister, Layni, chipped in seven points and their sister knows what the sophomore twins are capable of.
“I knew it was going in right when she caught it,” Averi Zinn said. “Libbi loves them shots.”
“Libbi does have this confidence about her. She could miss six in a row and still think the next one is going in,” echoed Libbi’s father, coach Zinn. “That shot was big because even though we had played bad to that point, we were still tied.”
At halfcourt, Libbi could be seen screaming joyously, ‘Let’s go!’ to her sister and teammates to spur the Warriors forward.
“It was like we’re gonna do this. This is our game to win and we’re gonna keep it going,” Libbi Zinn said.
After shooting a mere 6 for 25 from the floor in the first half, the Warriors kept their halftime pep talk brief and came out for the final five minutes of intermission to get some additional shots up and see the ball go through the net.
It paid off.
Averi Zinn nailed a 3-pointer out of the gates to put ‘Darko up 24-21.
“Coming out at half, we told ourselves that this is a new game. We can’t think about all the shots we missed,” Averi Zinn said. “Our defensive intensity went way up in the second half. When our defensive intensity goes up, our shots seem to fall.”
Then Lexi Foreman, who scored nine points, drained a stop-and-pop triple off the bounce at the top of the key after thinking about penetrating the Conquerors’ zone defense. Jessica Quoetone, who added nine points of her own, sank a corner 3-ball to force a timeout before Kaylee Borden made her own 3-pointer on the other side of the timeout courtesy of a friendly roll as ‘Darko’s 9-0 spurt pushed the lead to eight, 33-25.
“All these girls finally hit that maturity level where they realize they can’t get down if they miss a shot or two,” coach Zinn said. “It really helps when you got more than one who can knock down big shots.”
With outside shots finally falling, Anadarko began attacking the rim in the fourth quarter while nursing a 36-27 lead.
Quoetone took a defender off the bounce for a layup on the opening possession. With Victory Christian pressing hard and cutting off passing lanes, Averi Zinn slithered her way to the tin for a layup and a 40-28 lead with 5:30 left.
“We know when we get the lead and can put people on islands since all our kids can go to the hole,” coach Zinn said. “We feel like we can win any game if we got the lead.”
Despite two straight turnovers, Averi Zinn muscled up a layup in the paint to push the lead back to double-digits, 42-32.
“It’s so much fun to start peaking in the Area tournament,” said coach Zinn, whose Warriors shot 56 percent in the second half while holding the Conquerors to just 11 points and 18 percent shooting. “I always know the girls are capable of scoring, and we’re starting to score now.”
Now the Lady Warriors are one win away from their first state championship since 2012.
It’s crazy because us three grew up here and now we’re playing in it. It’s special for us to experience it all together. I love it.
Muldrow, ranked No. 1 for essentially the entire season, features considerable size and post phenom Taylen Collins, who is drawing significant recruiting attention from Power 5 conference coaches, including Oklahoma State.
“Just play our game,” Averi Zinn said of what it will take to win the Gold Ball. “When we take the game into our own hands, that’s when we play well and win. We just trust ourselves and that everything we’ve practiced for is going to pay off.”
ANADARKO 46, VICTORY CHRISTIAN 32
Girls
ANADARKO — Borden 1-1-4, Averi Zinn 6-0-14, Quoetone 3-2-9, La. Zinn 2-3-7, Li. Zinn 1-0-3, Foreman 3-1-9. Totals 16-7-46.
VICTORY CHRISTIAN — Gilyard 2-0-4, Gem Summers 2-6-10, Carlis 1-1-3, J. Wakley 1-0-2, Ruthie Udoumoh 4-2-10, B. Wakley 1-0-3. Totals 11-9-32.
‘Darko;9;12;15;10;—;46
VC;14;7;6;5;—;32
3-point goals: ‘Darko — Foreman 2, A. Zinn 2, Borden, Quoetone, Li. Zinn. VC — B. Wakley.
Top-seeded Lady Owls fall in semis, 60-50, for second straight year
OKLAHOMA CITY — All the seniors wanted was a warm embrace from their loved ones.
Elgin’s four senior starters — Kailah Ballou, Paige Pendley and twin sisters Izzy and Gabby Cummins — shed several tears in the moments following a season-ending 60-50 state tournament semifinal loss to fifth-seeded Muldrow, but the group that will go down as arguably the most successful Lady Owls’ senior classes got plenty of hugs, support and cheers from the Elgin faithful in the crowded bowels of Jim Norick Arena on Friday evening.
“Anybody who plays sports knows there is a last day. Even though this hurts right now, it’s so big for these kids to see that support with the whole community backing them,” said Elgin coach Jerrod Jones, whose top-seeded Owls finished the campaign 26-3 and saw a second straight season end in the state semifinals. “It’s been great being around these seniors and seeing their growth — with Kailah and the twins from sophomores to seniors and how they blossomed and when Paige moved in how she didn’t miss a beat. The young kids look up to them so much.
“They’re all adopted daughters to me and those four seniors mean the world to me.”
Elgin made only 13 of its 21 free throws and shot just 32 percent from the floor for the game despite getting a phenomenal final outing from Izzy and Gabby Cummins, who combined for 24 points.
“From the tipoff, they are ready to go. One after the other, it’s just relentless,” Jones said. “By Gabby hitting those shots, it frees up a lot of other looks for us. Then Izzy was hitting in the second half — shooting long, long 3s. There’s no stop with those two.”
Gabby Cummins drained her third 3-pointer of the first quarter — all virtually from the same spot on the wing — to give Elgin a 12-10 lead heading to the second frame.
Muldrow (29-1) went on an 8-0 run to take an 18-12 lead in the second quarter as Mariah Jenkins, who had seven points made a three-point play before getting a second chance bucket off a Taylen Collins’ steal with her lanky arms causing a deflection.
Gabby Cummins nailed a pull-up jumper to cut it to 22-20, but the Bulldogs held a 26-22 halftime lead as Elgin shot just 30 percent in the first half.
Sitting for most of the first half was Paige Pendley, who picked up her second foul less than four minutes into the game and picked up her third foul two minutes before half. The 2,000-point scorer was held without a field goal but still managed to score 10 points, all from the charity stripe.
Ballou, who scored 11 points, got a nifty spinning up-and-under and-1 to go, to trim the Muldrow lead to 32-26 in the third. Izzy Cummins, who scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second half, held down her shooting form after swishing a quick-release 3-ball at the top of the key to make it 33-29.
Izzy then drained an NBA-range 3-pointer from the State Fair Park emblem on the court to make it 38-32.
Cassandra Colong drained a step-back 3-pointer on the baseline and Izzy Cummins snuck a transition layup past a Collins block to make it 42-39 with five minutes to play.
But every time Elgin inched closer, Muldrow slipped away with a couple buckets.
“For most of the year, we’ve been down but not down, down. We could see a bit of deflation in our eyes,” Jones said. “Paige would come over and said, ‘This is not over.’ We emphasized that we still got this many minutes of the ball game left and we have to continue to work.
“But when you get the momentum, you can’t lose the momentum.”
Izzy Cummins drained another NBA-range triple on the wing to cut the Bulldog lead to two, 46-44 with 3:30 remaining, but that was the closest the Owls got as Muldrow put the game out of reach for good with four straight points, including a steal by Collins — who led Muldrow with 16 points — which she turned into a layup and a 50-44 lead with 2:20 left.
MULDROW 60, ELGIN 50
Girls
ELGIN — Colong 1-0-3, Carter 0-2-2, Gabby Cummins 4-0-11, Izzy Cummins 5-0-13, Paige Pendley 0-10-10, Kailah Ballou 5-1-11. Totals 15-13-50.
MULDROW — Jenkins 3-1-7, Taylen Collins 5-5-16, Hannah Boyett 2-5-11, Madison Chambers 5-3-13, Chalynn Mayes 4-3-11. Totals 20-17-60.
Elgin;12;10;10;18;—;50
Muld;10;16;14;20;—;60
3-point goals: Elgin — I. Cummins 3, G. Cummins 3, Colong. Muldrow — Boyett, Collins.