Spiro Girls Rally to Knock out Henryetta

The Lady Bulldogs closed a 17 point deficit to beat Henryetta by two.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 6:09 pm

By: News On 6

Spiro Girls Rally to Knock out Henryetta

Originally Published: Mar 4, 2011 10:27 AM CDT

Wesley Coburn
Oklahoma Sports Student Mojo

As the field of playoff teams shrinks, more and more teams bite the dust, and the Spiro Lady Bulldogs made sure that was the fate of the Henryetta Lady Knights as Spiro rallied from a 17 point deficit to win 67-65 in the Area tournament in Wilburton Thursday night.

Spiro took an early 3-2 lead, and foul trouble hit the 3A No.7 Lady Knights, but pressure clamped down on the Lady Bulldogs, and Henryetta led 18-10 after the first quarter.

The cushion increased to 30-13 at one point and Henryetta was ahead 37-25 at halftime.

Spiro decided to guard their season and chipped, whittled and chewed the lead down to 43-42. The Lady Knights narrowly hung on to a 47-44 advantage by the end of the third quarter.

With 2:48 to go in the game, the Lady Bulldogs regained the lead, 49-48.

The anxiety grew and the time ticked down. With 19.3 seconds to go, the score was tied at 65.

Before the buzzer sounded, one more basket was made, which had to signal the end of the year for one team, Henryetta, whose season ended after the 67-65 loss.

Every Lady Knight who played scored. Sophomore Miranda Harjo made 16 points, junior Ashton Peters dropped in 14, while sophomore Lauren Flanary added 13.

For Spiro, freshman Felicia Mack scored 16, senior Kendra Ledbetter 11 and Raylen Gray added 10.

Spiro will play Hugo Friday at 1:30 p.m. and the winner will be one game away from the State tournament.

Kolby Johnson’s Lady Knights were ranked nearly every week all season. They reached as high as the No. 6 spot and finished 10-2 in 8 Star Conference play.

Henryetta nearly repeated as the Okmulgee County Tournament champs, they represented Class 3A in the Tournament of Champions, and they end the 2010-11 basketball season with a record of 16-7.

While the majority of the Lady Knights will return next year, they will lose Heather Konsure, Coach Johnson’s stepdaughter, to graduation.

Nevertheless, Henryetta will return next year to extend the success gathered over the past two seasons.