BASKETBALL: Am-Po girls capture tournament title
Jan. 10—The Amber-Pocasset Lady Panthers are tournament champions.
Am-Po entered Arapaho-Butler's tournament ranked third in the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association's Class 2A rankings, and the Lady Panthers took home the Western Equipment Classic title last week. The Lady Panthers picked up their third double-digit victory of the tournament in the title game.
Following wins over Cordell and Sayre, Am-Po played an Arapaho-Butler team ranked 12th in Class A at the time. The Lady Panthers led by three at halftime, but they pulled away in the second half for a 47-30 victory in Saturday's championship game.
The Lady Panthers hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter and led 9-6 after the period. Both teams scored seven points in the second quarter, and Am-Po went to the second half with a 16-13 advantage over its opponent.
Arapaho-Butler continued to hang around in the third quarter, scoring two points to make its deficit just four points in the second half. But a scoring run that ended the third quarter and started the fourth quarter helped Am-Po finally get some more separation from its opponent.
After Arapaho-Butler hit a shot to make the score 23-19 in the third quarter, Am-Po scored the final eight points of the period to enter the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead. Three of those eight points came from a Devynn Harris buzzer-beating shot.
Am-Po scored the first three points of the fourth quarter to go up 15 points, and the Lady Panthers remained in command of the game to secure the title.
After scoring 32 points and hitting eight 3-pointers in the semifinals, Harris put up 20 points in the championship game and got named MVP. Ainslee McComas scored 15 points for Am-Po and was an all-tournament player for the Lady Panthers.
Am-Po also got points from Abbie Savage and Teague Muncy.
