It was the season opener for David Prickett’s crew, but it didn’t look for the Lady Bulldogs when they faced a nine point deficit late in third quarter.
The first three quarters were an offensive nightmare for Altus, who scored only 19 points in the first 24 minutes. The Lady Bulldogs scored that much in the final period.
Altus trailed for most of the game and its first lead didn’t come until 2:12 left in the contest when Taren Ray made a follow shot to make 33-31. But with 20 seconds left Elk City’s Brittany Bordine made two free throws to give the Elkettes a 36-35 lead.
Prickett then called time out to plot strategy which actually called for Durrough to be the last option. The ball went into her hands on the base line and the 5-5 junior calmly swished the three-pointer.
“We had different options, but she (Janelle) was our last option,” Prickett said. “We didn’t even get to the full part of the play to even run that option. But luckily we got there and she hit it.”
Elk City called time out with 4.1 seconds on the clock. They went to Hope Hall who dribbled up the floor, She put up a shot that rimmed off, however it wouldn’t have counted anyway because it came after time ran out.
It was Durrough who actually began the Lady Bulldogs comeback late in the third period when Altus was trailing by nine points. Durrough scored the final two baskets of the third period both times after she came up with a steal. She finished with seven points and four steals.
Ray led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring with 10 points, the only one in double figures. Kiondra Harris had eight points, Meagan Steen seven points, Michelle Marcha five points and Malorie Vaughan one point.
Altus could have made it a lot easier on themselves had they not missed many point blank shots, but that was something that didn’t surprise Prickett.
“We didn’t have a good week of practice,” Prickett said. “We’ve been kind of coasting. We’ve been telling them, we can’t coast against anybody. Not to take anything away from Elk City because they did a good job of playing good sound defense. But we haven’t been pushing ourselves the last few days of practice. They haven’t really believed us, but I think they believe us now. We have to practice better.”
Altus will now take a week off and prepare to travel to Elgin on Tuesday.
Altus 38, Elk City 36
Girls
Altus – Harris 2-4-8, Durrough 3-0-7, Marcha 2-0-5, Vaughan 0-1-1, Steen 3-1-7, ray 4-2-10. Totals 14-8-38 3 point goals – Durrough, Marcha
Elk City – Gunkel 4-0-12, Hall 4-1-9, Hutchinson 1-0-2, Bordine 3-3-9, Owsley 1-0-2, Millican 1-0-2. Totals 14-4-36. 3 point goals – Gunkel 4
Altus 6 6 7 19 – 38
Elk City 9 3 14 10 – 36
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