FORT GIBSON – The third quarter for Fort Gibson’s girls team could be best described as an explosion.

After leading Tahlequah 29-22 at halftime, Fort Gibson erupted for 29 points in third quarter on 12-of-18 shooting from the field leading to a 75-49 victory at Harrison Field House on Monday.

Ranked No. 1 in the Okrankings.com Class 4A poll, Fort Gibson outscored Tahlequah 29-17 in the third period. Julia Hill scored a team-high eight points in that period.

“We wanted to put them away as soon as we got out there,” Hill, finishing with a game-high 14 points, said. “We wanted to keep pressuring them and  going at them.”

Fort Gibson coach Jerry Walker said he didn’t say anything special in the locker room to inspire his team, which won their 11th straight game and improved to 19-1.

“Our girls played pretty good in the third quarter,” he said. “We’ve got some good girls and they really know what they have to do. They just did it better in the third quarter.”

Jodi Glover scored 11 points while Brooke Palmer had 10 for Fort Gibson.

Tahlequah coach Chad Walker watched as his team, 12-6 and No. 8 in Class 5A, struggled under Fort Gibson’s pressure.

“When we came out in the second half, we came out doing things the exact opposite of what we were trying to do,” Chad Walker said. “They’re a great team. Coach (Jerry) Walker is a great coach. One thing they have different from us is that championship mentality and that’s something we’re trying to  get.”

Randee O’Donnell and Desiree Phipps scored 11 points each for Tahlequah.

Both of Tahlequah’s teams return to action tonight at Wagoner, while Fort Gibson is off until Thursday at home against rival Hilldale.



Boys:

THS 43, FGHS 41

It was a defensive struggle on both ends and Logan Lewis’ free throw with 7.2 seconds left was the difference. He stole the ball, was fouled and made the second of two free-throw attempts.

“I wished I had made the first one, but I guess one is good enough,”  he said.

Lewis and Courtland Glock had 10 points each for Tahlequah.

The win marks the second time for Tahlequah (12-6) to beat Fort Gibson. Coach Mike Leafgreen’s squad won 55-52 on Jan. 28.

“They’re a good team,” Leafgreen said. “They just beat the No. 4 seed on the east side (in 5A), who we haven’t beaten. They’re tough. I told our guys it wasn’t a pretty game but in the end, we gritted through and were tough enough to pull it out.”

Tahlequah had to sweat out Fort Gibson trying to score as time ran out. Fort Gibson’s Jordan Hill mishandled the ball on his team’s end of the court and Tahlequah squeaked out the win.

“I took off dribbling, the ball got tapped and I lost it,” he said. “I should’ve shot it. They played tight defense (against us) in both games. They know how to execute.”

Hill, the brother of Julia Hill, finished with 17 points, 14 of that coming in the second half.

Fort Gibson coach Gary Hendrix praised Tahlequah’s defense.

“They made it difficult for us to run our offense,” he said. “We made some critical turnovers, but we didn’t get any shot attempts in last three minutes. In those situations, you need to take care of the ball and get at least an attempt. We weren’t getting an attempt.”