EMPIRE — When Waurika’s boys found themselves in a rut, after leading 9-2 early in the nightcap of a basketball doubleheader at Empire, coach Brad Hunt came up with a fairly simple solution — he urged the Eagles to play to their strengths.
Although the Eagles trailed in the first quarter and were in a standoff at halftime, WHS turned up the heat defensively and turned pressure defense into a 49-43 victory over the Bulldogs.
It was a different scenario in the opener at Bulldogs Gymnasium, as the Lady Bulldogs got off to a good start and held of the Lady Eagles, 54-51.
In the boys game, although Waurika captured the momentum at the outset, Empire settled down and went on a 10-2 run to take the lead at the end of the first quarter.
Empire pushed its lead to seven points midway through the second quarter, but although EHS’ Matt Kaus had made 10-of-10 free throws by halftime, Waurika regrouped and tied the game at 25-all.
The Eagles used a man-to-man press in the second half which stifled Empire. The Bulldogs managed just six points in the third quarter.
“We went to our strength. We know we are quick, so we played more ‘man’ press in the second half,” Hunt said, after WHS had risen to “We played better as a team. I thought we did a good job of taking advantage of them being in foul trouble.”
The fouls added up quickly for the ’Dogs. Tyler Carney and Kaus both had to sit for extended periods, which was a problem for EHS, since Kaus finished as the game’s leading scorer with 20 points and although Carney scored just 4 tallies he pulled down 12 rebounds.
Waurika pushed its lead to nine in the fourth quarter and brought its record to 8-11, while the ’Dogs slipped to 5-12.
Levi Henderson paced WHS with 15 points. Taylor Fuller scored 9 points in the second half and finished with 13.
Girls
Empire 54, Waurika 51
Making a habit out of things can be good or bad depending on the habit. Lady Bulldogs skipper Jason Allensworth hoped the win over the Lady Eagles would start a habit of winning.
Empire held the Lady Eagles to just five points in the first quarter and led by nine at the break, but Andrea Kerchee came off the bench to score 7 points in the second quarter, as Waurika scored 19 and trailed by one at the break.
DaVida England got her first points of the game in the third quarter to give the Lady Eagles their first lead of the game, 26-25 and England went on to power WHS’ second-half attack with 9 points.
But the back-and-forth affair finally went Empire’s way when Jaci Vinson was fouled with under a minute to play and made her first free throw. She but missed the second attempt and Sarah Patrick grabbed the rebound. She was fouled and made both shots to give the Lady Bulldogs a four-point lead.
Waurika’s Amber Hall drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to one, but the Lady Bulldogs made two more free throws down the stretch to seal the deal. Hall finished with a team-high 14 points.
Kerchee had 11 points and England added 9 for the Lady Eagles, who dipped to 3-14 despite scoring their highest point total of the season.
“We finally quit making mistakes and slowed the game down,” Waurika coach Joe Masoner said. “Offensively, we hit our shots. But we made crucial mistakes down at the end.”
Dakota Brown had 17 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs and Andrea McCormick added 15 as Empire improved to 3-13.
— Ben Whitehead is a sports reporter for The Duncan Banner.
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