Playing in the paint took on a new meaning for Muskogee and Sand Springs Tuesday night.

With most of the points for both teams coming at close range, the Lady Roughers, ranked No. 10 in the Okrankings.com Class 6A poll this week, recovered from a ragged start in the first half to defeat the Lady Sandites 75-46 in a Frontier Conference game at Ron Milam Gymnasium.

Muskogee (12-6, 5-4) forced 32 turnovers by Sand Springs (1-15, 0-9),  which resulted in 20 breakaway layups or short jumpers. For their part, the Lady Sandites used the inside strength of 5-foot-10 center Michelle Grant, who poured in 22 of Sand Springs 46 points.

“Our defense is what carried us,” MHS coach Doyle Rowland said. “But we had some breakdowns against their big girl (Grant). Our goal was to front her and then get backside help when they lobbed it in to her. Chelsie Keys did a good job of fronting her, but we just didn’t get the backside help we needed, particularly in the first half.”

Although Muskogee led most of the way, the lead was only 11 points, 38-27 at the half against a team that they beat by over 50 points in December. But the Lady Roughers dominated the third quarter.

Chancy Green, coming off the bench to score eight points in the second half, sparking the Muskogee offense. Coco Epps finished with a team-high 21 points.

“I’m not sure we were really focused tonight,” Epps said. “You can’t just turn it off and on like a light switch and if you don’t get mentally ready ahead of the game, it’s hard to do during the game.”

The Lady Roughers shot well from inside (27-of-53) but managed just 2-of-11 from the three point area. In addition to Epps and Green, Alexus Wilson sparked Muskogee in the first half with 12 points and added four free throws in the second half for a total of 16.

Keys was also in double figures for Muskogee with 11 points.

 

  

Boys: Muskogee 51, Sand Springs 45

Defense also carried the day for the Muskogee boys as they used a tenacious fourth quarter pressing defense and some clutch free throw shooting to pick up the win.

The Roughers (8-9, 2-7) got off to a rocky start as they put Sand Springs into a one-and-one free throw shooting situation in the first  four and one-half minutes of the game. Although they were just 5-of-15 from the field, the Sandites  had an 11-3 advantage at the free-throw line and led at halftime 21-14. The Roughers suffered from the field, hitting just 4-of-16 (25 percent) in the first half.

With the Sandites (3-13, 0-9) leading 38-27 after three quarters, the Roughers turned the tide early in the fourth quarter in a series that saw Anthony King connect on a 3-pointer, Aaron Fowler follow with a field goal following a Sandite turnover, and David Beasley following with another basket after a turnover. King hit another 3 with 1:10 left to break a 44-44 tie. He and Beasley finished out the scoring with 7-of-8 shooting from the charity line as the Roughers cashed in 13-of-16 free throw opportunities in the second half to turn the tables on the Sandites.

 “I told our guys after the game we have just to find a way to play four complete quarters,’ said MHS coach Lloyd Williams. “We played really good defense in the first and fourth quarters and that certainly carried our spotty offense.”

The poor shooting night was reflected in the scoring as only two Roughers made it into double figures with DonTrae Johnson getting 12 points and King with 10 while Beasley added nine points.

Muskogee travels to Broken Arrow Friday for another conference game.