OKLAHOMA CITY — An early two-point slump didn’t daunt Dale Friday, and the Lady Pirates dispatched Snyder, 40-23, to reach today’s final round of the Class 2A state tournament at State Fair Arena.
Dale, 26-4, will clash with Pawnee at 10:30 a.m. today to see who has the rights to top-team status. Pawnee, the defending state champion, smothered Washington 64-45 in Friday’s semis.
“I was real pleased,” Dale head coach Benny Burnett said of his team’s performance Friday. “(Snyder) tried to take away Brenna (Burnett) and Kaylee (Wilkins), and the other three girls really stepped up.”
Burnett scored a team-high 11 points for the Lady Pirates, while Wilkins tossed in 10. Fellow starters Linlee Blevins, Kendra Steward and Katherine Weatherby combined for Dale’s remaining 19 points.
“We were very balanced on the offensive end,” Burnett said, adding that the Lady Pirates posted “another stellar defensive performance.”
Snyder’s leading scorer, Marley Anderson, was held to a game-high 12 points.
“It was a great job of help-and-recovery on defense, and we blocked out well on the boards,” Burnett said.
The Lady Cyclones snapped up the first points of the game on an early bucket by Anderson, but Blevins followed with her first of two treys to put the Lady Pirates up 3-2 with 6:32 to go in the opening quarter. From there, Dale stymied Snyder’s offense and upped its lead to 10-2 to start the second quarter.
A 7-4 run by the Lady Cyclones — capped by a 3-pointer from Jordynn VanPelt — squeezed the Lady Pirates’ lead to 14-11, but that was as close as Snyder would get to reclaiming the advantage.
Dale ended the first half with a 20-11 cushion, and Steward gave the Lady Pirates a 15-point lead with 3:03 to go in the third quarter. Snyder started the final eight minutes in a 30-18 hole, and managed only five points as Dale eventually ran its lead to the largest margin of the night — 17 points — with just under two minutes left to play. The Lady Pirates went from their 36-23 lead to the eventual 40-23 final thanks to Weatherby’s and Wilkins’ successes at the charity stripe.
As a team, Dale connected on 66.7 percent of its free throws (6-of-9), while the Lady Cyclones hit 60 percent (3-of-5) of theirs. Weatherby finished at 3-of-4, and Wilkins finished at 2-of-3.
VanPelt led the Lady Cyclones individually with a 2-of-2 outing at the foul line.
Wilkins and Blevins ended the night with a pair of 3-point field goals, and Burnett and Weatherby hit one apiece to give the Lady Pirates a total of six treys.
Pawnee, now 22-5, has been a fly in Dale’s ointment two years running. The Lady Black Bears bested the Lady Pirates in the Class 2A state quarterfinals in 2008, then defeated them in the state semifinals last year.
Dale was also on the losing end of an overtime showdown with Pawnee in this year’s area tournament.
“We welcome the challenge,” Burnett said of today’s meeting with Pawnee.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — An early two-point slump didn’t daunt Dale Friday, and the Lady Pirates dispatched Snyder, 40-23, to reach today’s final round of the Class 2A state tournament at State Fair Arena.
Dale, 26-4, will clash with Pawnee at 10:30 a.m. today to see who has the rights to top-team status. Pawnee, the defending state champion, smothered Washington 64-45 in Friday’s semis.
“I was real pleased,” Dale head coach Benny Burnett said of his team’s performance Friday. “(Snyder) tried to take away Brenna (Burnett) and Kaylee (Wilkins), and the other three girls really stepped up.”
Burnett scored a team-high 11 points for the Lady Pirates, while Wilkins tossed in 10. Fellow starters Linlee Blevins, Kendra Steward and Katherine Weatherby combined for Dale’s remaining 19 points.
“We were very balanced on the offensive end,” Burnett said, adding that the Lady Pirates posted “another stellar defensive performance.”
Snyder’s leading scorer, Marley Anderson, was held to a game-high 12 points.
“It was a great job of help-and-recovery on defense, and we blocked out well on the boards,” Burnett said.
The Lady Cyclones snapped up the first points of the game on an early bucket by Anderson, but Blevins followed with her first of two treys to put the Lady Pirates up 3-2 with 6:32 to go in the opening quarter. From there, Dale stymied Snyder’s offense and upped its lead to 10-2 to start the second quarter.
A 7-4 run by the Lady Cyclones — capped by a 3-pointer from Jordynn VanPelt — squeezed the Lady Pirates’ lead to 14-11, but that was as close as Snyder would get to reclaiming the advantage.
Dale ended the first half with a 20-11 cushion, and Steward gave the Lady Pirates a 15-point lead with 3:03 to go in the third quarter. Snyder started the final eight minutes in a 30-18 hole, and managed only five points as Dale eventually ran its lead to the largest margin of the night — 17 points — with just under two minutes left to play. The Lady Pirates went from their 36-23 lead to the eventual 40-23 final thanks to Weatherby’s and Wilkins’ successes at the charity stripe.
As a team, Dale connected on 66.7 percent of its free throws (6-of-9), while the Lady Cyclones hit 60 percent (3-of-5) of theirs. Weatherby finished at 3-of-4, and Wilkins finished at 2-of-3.
VanPelt led the Lady Cyclones individually with a 2-of-2 outing at the foul line.
Wilkins and Blevins ended the night with a pair of 3-point field goals, and Burnett and Weatherby hit one apiece to give the Lady Pirates a total of six treys.
Pawnee, now 22-5, has been a fly in Dale’s ointment two years running. The Lady Black Bears bested the Lady Pirates in the Class 2A state quarterfinals in 2008, then defeated them in the state semifinals last year.
Dale was also on the losing end of an overtime showdown with Pawnee in this year’s area tournament.
“We welcome the challenge,” Burnett said of today’s meeting with Pawnee.
