White Oak hands Tenaha 'warm-up' loss, 73-50
Saturday night's playoff warm-up game in the Special Events
Center. Jackson scored two points and Tenaha fell to White Oak,
73-50. (Photo by John Krueger)
TENAHA -- Many times basketball coaches schedule tough warm-up contests before the playoffs to see exactly where his or her team needs to concentrate on improvement and to bring the athletes back to reality. Tenaha's matchup with Class 2A White Oak did just that Saturday night as the Lady Tigers dropped a 73-50 decision to the Ladynecks in the final game of the Tyler Chapter of Officials Girls Playoff Preview held in the Special Events Center.
The Lady Tigers, who showed signs of giving the Ladynecks trouble all night long, couldn't put long stretches of consistent play together and slow the White Oak big three of Morgan Wilson, Tara Wait and Shandee Lynn. The trio combined for 47 points as WOHS sustained the momentum for most of the night and improved to 26-5 on the season. Tenaha dropped to 18-11.
White Oak, who will represent District 18-2A as the second-place team, will take on Chapel Hill Tuesday night in the opening round of the playoffs. Tenaha captured the District 21-1A title and will receive a first-round bye on Tuesday. The Lady Tigers will take on the survivor of Tuesday's bi-district matchup between West Sabine and Grapeland. The Area matchup will likely be played on Friday.
The Lady Tigers didn't appear in sync all night, committing 18 turnovers, while White Oak turned the ball over only 11 times. The Lady Tigers also couldn't find the range at the free throw line, connecting on only 5-of-21 (23.8%), while the Ladynecks hit 13-of-27 (48.2%).
Wilson led all scorers in the game as the Ladyneck threw in 21 points. Wait added 14 points and Lynn threw in 12. Kristin Koonce added nine points and Shelby Davis pitched in seven.
Okievia Bratchett directed the Tenaha offense, and finished as the Lady Tigers' leading scorer with 18 points. Amber Evans was close behind with 17 points, while Ashlee Ray dropped in nine. Jasmine Ivy scored four points and Whitney Jackson contributed two points.
White Oak took an7- early 0 lead, but Evans hit a 3-pointer and a pair of shots in the paint to pull Tenaha within 10-11 with 2:45 left in the quarter. White Oak then scored seven straight points to end the quarter to lead 18-10 at the end of the initial period.
After committing just one turnover in the opening period, the Ladynecks committed four in the second quarter. But they kept the lead by forcing six turnovers by Tenaha as the Lady Tigers trimmed the lead to 31-27 at the break. Bratchett scored eight points in the quarter, with three of the field goals coming on layups.
White Oak lit up the scoreboard for 19 points in the third quarter. Wilson connected on a pair of 3-pointers and Wait added one of her own as White Oak led 50-39 heading into the final eight minutes. Evans and Bratchett each scored four points for THS in the quarter.
The Ladynecks began to pull away in the fourth quarter and used a 7-0 run midway through the quarter to widen the gap to 64-43 and they coasted from there.
STATS AT A GLANCE
Scoring by Quarters
White Oak 18 13 19 23 = 73
Tenaha 10 17 12 11 = 50
Individual Scoring: White Oak - Morgan Wilson 21; Tara Wait 14; Shandee Lynn 12; Kristin Koonce 9; Shelby Davis 7; Whitney Simmons 5; Rachel Larson 4; Jess McNew 1. Tenaha - Okievia Bratchett 18; Amber Evans 17; Ashlee Ray 9; Jasmine Ivy 4; Whitney Jackson 2.
Records: White Oak 26-5; Tenaha 18-11.