News-Democrat Staff
Rush Springs — Waurika coach Joe Masoner knew a matchup against the Apache girls was a major assignment Monday night. But that didn’t keep Masoner from squirming a little as he watched the Lady Eagles get “abused.”
“It was a little ‘abusive’, because we just couldn’t do anything to stop them. Apache’s the best team I’ve seen so far this year,” Masoner said, after the Lady Eagles dropped a 67-15 decision to the Lady Warriors, in the opening round of the 26th Black Diamond Classic.
Ranked among the top 20 in Class 2A, Apache burst to a 54-6 lead in the first half and zoomed into the tournament semifinals, while sending Waurika into the consolation bracket with a 1-8 overall record.
Anticipating that the Lady Eagles would have problems keeping pace with the No. 1 seed in Rush Springs’ annual roundball festival, Masoner said, “I told the girls we’d have to really elevate our game to be able to play with (the Lady Warriors).
“In the first three or four minutes, we were actually doing OK. We were breaking Apache’s press and we were up, 2-0. But then we missed four or five lay-ups in a row and they flew down the floor. They hit a couple of three-pointers and we just melted.
“Apache was really good.”
That was pretty evident by the time the first period ended with AHS on top, 27-2.
Apache rested its starters in the second half and the Lady Eagles, playing without four freshmen Masoner sent to a junior high tournament at Big Pasture, kept pace against AHS’ backups in the final 16 minutes.
Waurika managed just five field goals in the mismatch and only three Lady Eagles scored, paced by 8 tallies from senior Katie McCauley. Pivot DaVida England added 6 points and Brandi Clark had 1.
The Lady Warriors — 7-3 overall, with losses to Class B No. 1-ranked Cyril and two large-school teams — got a game-high 16 points from Kayla Pahcoddy and 10 from Taylor Lindsey.
Waurika’s girls return to the BDC on Friday for a 7 p.m. consolation semifinal against the loser of a first-round game between Velma-Alma and Central High.
