Dale girls sink Silo in first round of state tourney
OKLAHOMA CITY – The third-ranked Dale Lady Pirates rode limited turnovers and solid defense to a first-round victory at the Class 2A Girls State Tournament Thursday morning.
Dale (24-5) committed just six turnovers and forced 18 Silo miscues in securing a 67-55 win at the State Fairgrounds Arena.
The Lady Pirates advanced to play Pocola on Friday in a noon semifinal clash at the State Fairgrounds Arena. Second-ranked Pocola (26-1) upended Merritt 41-35 in another first-round game.
“We did a good job of handling the basketball, making free throws down the stretch and hitting some big shots in the first half,” said Dale head coach Eric Smith. “We had some questionable shot selections at times. Our defense was very good with active hands and good pressure.”
The Lady Pirates shot just 41% from the floor for the game, but used a huge 22-12 first quarter to take control of the game.
Junior Brook Rutland poured in a game-high 24 points while knocking down 3-of-4 three-point attempts to go with six rebounds and a pair of assists to pace Dale. She was 7-of-15 from the field overall.
Senior Makenzie Gill added 18 points to go with six boards and two assists.
Junior Makenzy Herman proved to make an impact on the Lady Pirate offense with 10 points and seven assists. Dale had 12 assists for the game on its 23 makes.
Rounding out the Lady Pirate scoring were senior starter Faith Wright with eight, senior reserve Justyce Shirey with five and senior starter Addie Bell with two.
Silo, which shot 44.7% from the floor in the contest, received double-double efforts from both Tiani Ellison and Alaria Bell.
Ellison tossed in 19 points and collected 13 rebounds and Bell ended up with 14 points and 10 boards. Presley McKnight contributed 12 points and four assists for the Lady Rebels, who ended the season at 22-9.
Dale drained 10-of-13 foul shots in the fourth quarter with Herman going 6-of-7 during that span.
Silo took an early 2-0 lead, but the Pirates scored five straight points off a Gill steal for a layup and Rutland 3-pointer off Herman's first assist.
Leading 5-4, Dale went on an 8-0 run, behind Bell's baseline shot, another steal and layup by Gill which led to an old-fashioned 3-point play and a Rutland trey to make it 13-4 with 3:17 remaining in the first period.
From there the three remaining quarters were fairly balanced as the Lady Pirates held a 35-25 halftime cushion.
Dale established its largest advantage (14 points) at 41-27 with just over six minutes to go in the third after two Gill foul shots and a Wright 3-pointer via Rutland helper.
Silo got as close as eight points twice in the fourth quarter, but Dale had an answer each time. The first came off a Shirey drive and score at the bucket and the second led to 8-of-9 foul shooting by the Lady Pirates in the final 2:50.
This article originally appeared on The Shawnee News-Star: Dale girls sink Silo in first round of state tourney
