By Mike Kays

Phoenix Sports Editor



Kelsey McClure got a reprieve for her team and especially the Muskogee seniors in their home-court finale Tuesday night.

The junior guard missed a pair of free throws with 0.8 seconds in regulation but was 3-of-4 in overtime, scoring five of her team’s points and got a huge assist from her team’s defensive play to knock off No. 3 Jenks 65-58 on Senior Night at Ron Milam Gymnasium.

“I know, I know, I let my team down,” she said, having finished with 11 points. “But they all came back to me and reminded me that we still had four minutes to play. I knew that if I got another chance at the line I wasn’t going to blow that one.

“Nobody gave up. That was all about heart.”

The seventh consecutive win for No. 8 Muskogee (16-6, 9-4 Frontier Conference) came after trailing by 10, 42-32 after a 12-0 run that carried into the early moments of the fourth quarter. Muskogee had led most of the game until Toree Thompson hit a pair of free throws with 4:31 left in the third quarter, giving Jenks (18-4, 11-2)  a 29-27 advantage.

It was 46-38 when Alexus Wilson’s 3 began the rally at the 4:31 mark and ended with her basket in the final minute. It also came after a heart-to-heart talk during a timeout called by MHS coach Doyle Rowland.

“I told them it wasn’t over and if they believed that like I did, we could pull this thing out,” he said. “We went back out and got on a roll with turnover after turnover, turning on our defense and running the floor, clicking on all cylinders.

“I think we caught Jenks a little off-balance because they haven’t seen us in our top mode.”

Jenks beat Muskogee 54-43 in mid-January.

Seniors Coco Epps and Chelsie Keys scored 17 points each, holding their own in a physical battle in the paint. Particularly in the case of the 6-foot-1 Keys, who had a season-high 19 rebounds.

“Lucky I guess,” she said with a grin. “Coach had been talking about blocking out, blocking out, blocking out. I think I blocked out once and got a foul. Otherwise I think I just outjumped people.”

Jessica Washington had 19 points and Thompson had 12 for Jenks. Washington’s only points in overtime came on a 3 that tied it at 58 with 2:30 to play.

It would be her team’s final points.

Muskogee closes the regular season on Friday at Owasso.



Boys:

Jenks 66, MHS 44

A tough home slate for Muskogee’s seniors came to a bitter end as the Roughers (8-13, 2-11)  faded in the second half after rallying from a 21-3 deficit to within 33-29 on a David Beasley 3-pointer 40 seconds into the third quarter.

Jacob Seidel had 10 of his team-high 15 points for the eighth-ranked Trojans (17-5, 10-3)  in the second half, which saw the lead pushed back to 13 at the end of three. The 22-point difference at the end was matched on a couple of occasions.

Beasley, a sophomore, finished with 16 points. Another sophomore, Anthony King, had 14.

Aaron Fowler, one of five seniors who started but one of three that has been a starter this season, led that group with six points.

Frank Jones and Don’Trae Johnson have also seen starting action. Johnson made a ceremonial appearance, having broke a hand in practice last week. He was pulled immediately after the tipoff and replaced with a sixth senior, Delante Walker.

Five of Fowler’s points came in the second-quarter charge sparked by a 9-of-15 effort from the field. His team was 1-of-11 in the opening quarter.

King, who had the only basket in the first quarter on a 3-pointer at the 2:52 mark, had 10 points at the half.

“I know the future of this program is good with those young guys returning,” Fowler said. “But I’m not standing here thinking that this season is over yet.”

After a road game with Owasso on Friday to finish the regular season, they’ll face this same Jenks team a third time at Tulsa Washington next Friday in the first round of regionals.

“I hope that when we sit down and look at the film of this that the kids will see that we got part of what we wanted accomplished, and that was to show we could play with these guys,” said MHS coach Lloyd Williams, his team now at 8-13, 2-11 in conference. “The thing is so much energy is spent digging yourself out of the hole we were in, you don’t realize that when you’re back in it, you’re tired. And we were. But we kept fighting.

“If we cut down on our mistakes, we can beat this team and I hope our kids can buy into that.”