OKLAHOMA CITY — Averi Zinn emerged from the celebratory Lady Warrior dogpile ready for an even more meaningful embrace.
Seconds after the buzzer sounded on the Anadarko girls’ 54-49 victory over Muldrow to win the Class 4A state championship, Averi ran to her father, Jeff Zinn, who gave her a big bear hug as the junior point guard wrapped her arms around the Warriors coach on Saturday afternoon at the Big House.
“Ever since I was little, I planned out that moment and knew exactly what I was going to do when we won it all,” said Averi Zinn, who scored 10 points and snagged five steals to help lead Anadarko to its third state title in program history and first since 2012. It’s the 18th state title in school history. “It’s the greatest feeling ever. It’s a memory I’ll never forget.”
Anadarko (27-3) finished the state championship campaign on a 21-game winning streak and snagged 15 steals and turned an eye-popping 34 Muldrow turnovers into 27 points in the 54-49 victory over the 29-2 Bulldogs.
“At about the 80-foot mark, we had to start causing indecision,” coach Zinn said of the Warriors’ suffocating defense. “We also had to get Muldrow fatigued, and I saw some of their players hanging over in the third quarter. I thought we had delivered enough body blows like in boxing to where at some point they would break.”
Despite ‘Darko’s youth and last season’s bitter ending in the state quarterfinals, the Warriors kept believing this was their year to climb back atop the mountain again.
“Averi is Miss Positive. She told me they were gonna win a Gold Ball for Anadarko this year,” coach Zinn laughed. “I gave her a bunch of reasons why we weren’t.”
The daughter proved dad wrong as these young Warriors — who lose only three seniors — join the elite 2012 squad as state champions.
“I’ve always looked up to those players like Lakota and Ashley Beatty. It’s crazy that I’m where they are and have won the same thing they did,” Averi Zinn said. “It means everything.”
The Warriors — who had a balanced scoring attack with five players scoring seven or more points despite shooting only 35 percent from the field — shook off a 7-0 Muldrow start and forced 20 first half turnovers to take a 22-18 halftime lead.
One of three seniors, Jessica Quoetone, who scored eight points, sank a corner 3-ball to put an end to ‘Darko’s rocky start. Zinn immediately called a timeout and regrouped the Warriors, who exited the break with a steal.
It was an avalanche of turnovers from that point on.
Lexi Foreman, who led the Warriors with 12 points, sank a transition 3-pointer on the wing off Muldrow’s seventh turnover of the opening quarter despite the Bulldogs holding a 12-11 lead after the first frame.
Muldrow coughed up five turnovers in the first 2:18 of the second quarter.
“It’s all about our intensity,” Foreman said. “We had to get all over the ball, pressure them to speed them up and that caused them to get in their heads and they’d just throw it away.”
Libbi Zinn, who had three steals, three points and three assists, hounded a Bulldog ball handler to force a five-seconds call for Muldrow’s 14th turnover.
“Every day in practice our principles are ball pressure and working hard,” said Foreman, who had five steals and five assists. “It’s tiring. It’s hard. You need to be well-conditioned.”
The most fascinating spectacle of the first half came when the three Zinn sisters combined for a bucket to put ‘Darko up 22-15 a minute before half. Averi backed up against the full court press before flinging the ball down to Libbi, who then threaded a nifty, timely bounce pass to twin sister Layni Zinn — who added seven points and four rebounds — for a layup.
Muldrow mustered only 12 shot attempts in the first half, equaling its number of second quarter turnovers, but post phenom Taylen Collins — who despite an abysmal 10 turnovers, led the Bulldogs with nine rebounds and 24 points on perfect 9 of 9 shooting — got a friendly bounce for a layup seconds before half to trim the ‘Darko lead to four, 22-18.
For the most part, Collins couldn’t get in a flow as ‘Darko sped up the Bulldogs.
“With our lineups, you wouldn’t think we would come out with the victory,” Averi Zinn said. “We knew we had to keep it out of the paint because 14 (Collins) is crazy athletic. We knew we needed to keep the pressure on the perimeter and fluster them so they couldn’t even run their offense to work the ball inside.”
As Collins began to take over in the third quarter, Muldrow retook the lead.
Then Averi Zinn — who at 5-4 stands nearly a foot shorter than the 6-2 Collins — drained a wing 3-pointer over the lanky forward to tie the game at 28.
“I saw her kind of relax and take a step back. I knew I could make it,” said Averi Zinn, who added where that fearlessness stems from. “When we break it out, we started saying, ‘No fear on three!’ That’s the mentality we’ve gone in with every game that we weren’t gonna fear anyone.”
Anadarko shot 10 of 28 from behind the arc, good for 36 percent as Foreman then canned a second-chance triple while staring down her defender on the wing with a smirk. Foreman immediately shifted focus to defense as she flew into the lane and picked off the ensuing inbounds pass and made a free throw for a four-point trip to push ‘Darko back in front, 35-33.
“It felt good because they got down on themselves,” Foreman said. “We got in their heads and it turned up our intensity as a team.”
Foreman’s trey wasn’t the only second chance opportunity the Warriors capitalized on. Pushing the lead to 41-37 with six minutes left was Kaylee Borden, who sank all three of her 3-pointers in the second half and added 11 points. The sophomore guard drilled a triple from the top of the key on a third chance opportunity following multiple Muldrow blocks.
‘Darko began to pull away as Averi Zinn, who scored seven of her 10 points in the second half, knifed around the perimeter while being chased and double-teamed. Zinn found her way to the tin for a layup to push the lead to 44-38 after ‘Darko had missed its first four two-point field goal attempts of the quarter.
Zinn then drew a charge, before threading a bounce pass in the lane to her sister Layni past the block for a layup and a 47-43 lead with 1:44 left.
“It was a huge bucket,” Averi said. “I could see it on her face she was gonna make it.”
Nursing a four-point lead, Quoetone dove on the floor for ‘Darko’s sixth steal of the half which turned into three of the Warriors’ 27 points off turnovers.
With 1:15 left, Borden buried the dagger on a corner-pocket 3-pointer and ‘Darko could sense the state title was within reach, leading 50-43.
“Kaylee had missed a few to that point, but that just showed Kaylee’s maturity,” coach Zinn said. “I told her, ‘They’re leaving you wide open, you’re gonna have to shoot it.’
“These kids are just so competitive. That started feeding over to the offense. We’re gonna let shots fly. If they don’t go in, they say, ‘I can live with that, but I’m gonna believe it’s going in.’”
While Zinn finally got to win a state championship with his three daughters by his side, he was also happy for the Anadarko community getting to soak in another title.
“We talked about it before the game. There are so many people in Anadarko that things may be either good or bad for, but when you win one of these, it makes everybody there feel good,” coach Zinn said. “It’s a sense of pride. It’s something positive everybody can rally around, and I’m so happy for the community.”
With several key contributors returning, ‘Darko will be a heavy favorite to repeat as state champs again next March.
“It was sad and bittersweet for our seniors who won’t be here next year,” Foreman said. “We got a taste of it, finished it off.
“Now we’re gonna want to do it again.”
ANADARKO 54, MULDROW 49
Girls
ANADARKO — Lexi Foreman 4-2-12, Kaylee Borden 3-2-11, Averi Zinn 3-2-10, Quoetone 2-3-8, La. Zinn 3-1-7, Li. Zinn 1-0-3, Stephens 1-0-3. Totals 17-10-54.
MULDROW — Taylen Collins 9-6-24, Possage 0-2-2, Jenkins 1-0-2, Hannah Boyett 4-3-14, Chambers 2-0-5, Mayes 1-0-2. Totals 17-11-49.
‘Darko;10;12;13;19;—;54
Muld;11;7;17;14;—;49
3-point goals: Anadarko — Borden 3, Foreman, A. Zinn 2, Quoetone, Li. Zinn, Stephens.