Month: January 2022

Tuttle Lady Tigers roll to Mid-America championship

On By Richard R. BarronIn NewsLeave a comment

By Jeff Cali | The Ada News

The Tuttle Lady Tigers finished their impressive run through the 44th Annual Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic by pulverizing Perry 52-20 in Thursday night’s championship contest.

The Lady Tigers, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, improved to 7-1 on the season — with their only loss at the hands of out-of-state foe Glenwood, Arkansas. Perry, No. 3 in Class 3A, lost for the first time, falling to 6-1.

Coach Brian Lester’s squad ran roughshod through the tough Mid-America field. Tuttle started with a 58-31 first-round win over Class A No. 11 Frontier and leveled Class A No. 1 Frontier 82-41. Oddly enough, those 82 points in the semifinals were the most scored in a Mid-America contest since Lomega stuffed Wright City 82-56 in the 2016 fifth-place contest.

The Lady Tigers flustered Perry right from the start, bolting to a 15-2 first-quarter lead. Tuttle sank 7-of-14 shots in the initial period while limiting Perry to a single field goal by Kennedy Hight.

After junior standout post player Landry Allen — who committed to the University of Oklahoma this past summer — scored in the paint with just under four minutes left in the second period, the THS lead had grown to 23-4.

After a 12-2 surge midway late the third quarter — sparked by three baskets from Madi Surber — the Lady Tigers had extended their lead to 39-11 at the 2:40 mark.

Allen capped off a strong individual tournament with 21 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Tuttle onslaught. She finished an efficient 9-of-13 from the field.

Surber turned in a strong all-around effort for Tuttle with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and a 4-of-4 effort from the free-throw line to go with four rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Both Allen and Surber were named to the all-tournament team.

Allie Rehl — who has two older sisters that play basketball for East Central University – was next for Tuttle with seven points. Hadley Periman, who was voted the 2021 Mid-America Classic MVP by a 10-person all-tournament selection committee, was next with six points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Periman has committed to the University of Tulsa.

Hight, another all-tournament selection, scored nine points to pace the Perry offense. No other PHS player scored more than four. The Lady Maroons also saw Braylee Dale named to the all-tournament team.

Richard R. Barron | The Ada News – The Tuttle Lady Tigers won the 2021 Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America championship by defeating Perry 52-20 in Thursday’s title contest. Tuttle, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, improved to 7-1 on the season.

Latta hangs on against Am-Po in seventh-place contest

On By Richard R. BarronIn Stats and ScoresLeave a comment

by Jeff Cali | The Ada News

Latta 6-4 senior Taryn Batterton hit two clutch free throws with 19.8 seconds left to help the Lady Panthers hold off Amber-Pocasset 48-45 Thursday afternoon in the seventh-place game of the 44th Annual Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic inside ECU’s Kerr Activities Center.

It was a battle between two of the top teams in Class 2A. Third-ranked Latta improved to 11-2 on the year, while Am-Po suffered its third straight Mid-America loss, falling to 5-3.

It was a much-needed victory for Latta, who played the entire tournament without key senior reserve Alesha Traylor and played Thursday’s game minus post player Triniti Cotanny, who suffered a concussion near the end of Latta’s Wednesday setback to Hammon.

“All I can do is praise the kids for their heart and effort,” Latta head coach Bruce Plunk said.

“I’m just thrilled with our composure. We have a saying that says the harder you work, the harder it is to surrender. That’s what we saw tonight. They just didn’t surrender,” he continued. “That’s big for the long run.”

With depth becoming an issue, Plunk — who has played man-to-man defense for years — had the Lady Panthers switch to a zone against Am-Po on Thursday.

“They had to make quick adjustments today in our shoot-around and basically we changed what we do. They just fought and gutted it out against a very good team,” Plunk said.

After Batterton’s two late free throws, Latta forced a “5” count after an Am-Po timeout with 7.6 seconds left.

Game over, right? Wrong.

Devynn Harris of Amber-Pocasset stole the ball just before Latta got to midcourt, raced to the top of the key and shot a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game and forced overtime, but it was off the mark. It was only then Plunk and company could breathe a sigh of relief.

“I kind of had to swallow deep right there. She had a good look. She can really shoot it,” Plunk said.

After a basket by Jaylee Willis off a nice assist from Brooklyn Ryan, Latta grabbed its biggest lead of the game at 20-13 with just under five minutes to play in the second quarter.

But Am-Po ended that frame on a 10-4 run and trailed just 24-23 at halftime.

Latta led by five twice in the third quarter, but a pair of 3-pointers by Am-Po sharpshooter Ainslee McComas helped her team stay within one at 36-35 heading into the final period.

The game went back-and-forth throughout the final period.

A 3-pointer by Harris trimmed the LHS advantage to 44-43 with just under two minutes remaining.

Ryan scored on a strong drive to the basket to put Latta head 46-43, but Grave Hicks calmly sank a pair of free throws (it was her only attempts in the game) for Amber-Pocasset with 27.5 seconds left that set up the tight finish.

Batterton — who made the Mid-America All-Tournament team — turned in her best tournament game, finishing with 23 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. She hit 8-of-12 field goals and went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Ryan scored 10 points and had four rebounds and three assists for the local Lady Panthers. Willis added nine points and six steals to the LHS effort.

McComas led the Am-Po offense with a game-high 24 points. She hit four 3-pointers and also had three steals. Harris followed with nine points via three 3-point baskets and pulled down six boards.

The Lady Panthers were supposed to host local rival Byng tonight, but that game was canceled Monday morning due to COVID-19 concerns.

Richard R. Barron | The Ada News – Latta’s Taryn Batterton attempts to block out Teague Muncy of Amber-Pocasett while battling for a rebound during their matchup in the fifth-place game Thursday at the 44th Annual Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic, sponsored by Vision Bank. Batterton finished with 23 points and nine rebounds in Latta’s 48-45 win.

Mid-America fans, meet Madi Surber

On By Richard R. BarronIn Teams and RostersLeave a comment

By Jeff Cali | The Ada News

Fans in attendance at the 2021 Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic might have heard of Tuttle’s dynamic duo of Landry Allen and Hadley Periman — who have both committed to play college basketball at Division I schools — before they arrived in Ada last week.

Allen, a junior, committed to the University of Oklahoma’s new head coach, Jennie Baranczak and Periman, a senior, committed to the University of Tulsa earlier this fall.

Richard R. Barron | The Ada News

However, after her memorable Mid-America performance — especially in the semifinals and championship game — fans won’t soon forget Madi Surber, another Tuttle senior.

In Tuttle’s 82-41 semifinal victory over Lomega, all Surber did was score a game-high 24 points while shooting 10-of-11 from the field with one 3-pointer and hit 3-of-3 free throws. Surber also had three steals, three assists and four rebounds.

Surber’s stat line in the Lady Tigers’ 52-20 win over Perry in the title game included 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from the free-throw stripe. She also had four rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Tuttle girls basketball coach and athletic director Brian Lester said Surber reminds him of a certain star of a battery commercial.

“She’s just an Energizer Bunny. She just goes, goes, goes. She’s a kid that literally goes 100 percent 100 percent of the time,” Lester told The Ada News.

“She’s just everywhere. I think she leads us with about eight deflections a game. She also gets about four steals a game,” he continued. “We can put her on other guards and they just don’t get off good shots. That’s what she means to us.”

That, in a nutshell, is Madi Surber the basketball player. But let me tell you the rest of her story.

During cross country season this fall, Surber ran exactly two meets — a Class 4A Regional race and the Class 4A State race. She won them both. Surber became a state champion in cross country with a time of 12:01.81.

That’s not nearly all. As a member of the Tuttle High School fastpitch softball team — she led off and played centerfield — she helped the Lady Tigers advance to the semifinals of the Class 4A State Tournament. Tuttle dropped a slim 5-4 lead to Tecumseh.

Wait, there’s more.

Last spring, she broke the state record in the 300-meter hurdles (42.75) and won four events at the 4A state meet, leading Tuttle to a third-place team finish.

“It’s unbelievable. She’s probably the best athlete I’ve ever been around. It’s such a privilege to coach her because she just goes so hard all the time,” Lester said.

Surber plans to attend Oklahoma State University on a track scholarship.

Of course, this season’s basketball journey is far from over. The Lady Tigers are ranked No. 1 in Class 4A — and none of their Mid-America opponents would debate that rating — and are favorites to bring home a state title.

Surber will be a huge part of whatever the Lady Tigers accomplish on the court this season. Of course, she helped Tuttle bring home the girls basketball gold during the 2020-21 campaign.

“Last year she shot 72% from the floor. She’s really a good 3-point shooter. She just doesn’t do it often enough. She has great form and shoots it extremely well,” Lester said.

The THS coach said he would love to see more high school athletes follow in Surber’s footsteps and play multiple sports.

“I wish other high school kids would look at her and realize they don’t need to specialize. They need to go do other things. That’s one thing I try to preach to our coaches as the AD — let those kids do other things,” he said. “It says a lot about her as an individual and about our school for being accepting of her and allowing her to do all those other things.”

Madi Surbers don’t come around very often. It was neat to see her do her thing on the basketball court and later find out she can do so much more.

“She’s not just good at everything, she’s great,” Lester said. “She’s special.”

Mid-America fans, meet Madi Surber.

Late run seals deal for Lady Mustangs

On By Richard R. BarronIn Stats and ScoresLeave a comment

By Jeff Cali | The Ada News

A late 7-0 Frontier run in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference in the Lady Mustang’s exciting 53-51 win over Hammon in Thursday’s fifth-place game of the 44th Annual Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic.

Class A’s No. 11 Frontier won its final two tournament games and improved to 9-2 on the year, while Class B’s No. 2 Hammon dropped to 10-2.

Frontier head coach Kaylee Byrd, a former Byng assistant, said she was proud of the toughness her team showed.

“I told my kids before the game that today was going to come down to who could be tougher on Day 3 and do the little things right,” she said. “We weren’t perfect but we found a way to win.”

After Hammon’s Addison Walker hit a 3-pointer with just over three minutes left in the game, the Lady Warriors led 46-45.

However, Frontier scored the next seven points.

BJ Childs started the run with a bucket and Oliva Littlecook followed with a free throw at the 1:34 mark that put Frontier on top 48-46.

After a Jamie Molina steal, Childs scored on a fast break to make it 50-46 with 56 seconds remaining.

Childs then got a takeaway that turned into a Childs’ basket that pushed the FHS lead to 52-46 with :35 showing.

Henley West, Hammon’s 6-4 freshman post player, scored on a put-back with 21 seconds left to cut the deficit to 52-48.

After missed free throws by both teams, West stepped outside the arc and drained a 3-pointer with 2.7 ticks left to trim the Frontier lead to 52-51 but the Lady Warriors ran out of time for a comeback.

Molina led a balanced Frontier attack with 18 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Diane FawFaw followed with 13 points and five steals and drained a trio of 3-pointers.

Littlecook and Childs contributed 10 points apiece. Littlecook also had eight assists and hit a pair of 3-pointers and Child dished out five assists.

Littlecook and Molina were all-tournament selections.

West, also an all-tournament pick, dominated the paint for Hammon. She finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting from the free-throw line. she also had an incredible 21 rebounds.

Walker added 14 points for the Lady Warriors, including four 3-point baskets.

Frontier managed just 4-of-12 (33.3%) free throws, while Hammon sank 6-of-8 (75%).

Byrd said her team will use its Mid-America experience as a springboard into the final half of the season.

“I think this week was a pivotal point for our growth. I was very pleased with the strides we made. It was a great experience for my team and I’m thankful for the invitation to participate in this tournament,” she said. “I was extremely proud of the toughness my kids played with all week in a prestigious tournament against great competition. We faced three very talented and well-coached teams.”

Richard R. Barron | The Ada News – Jamie Molina (23) of Frontier scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help the Lady Mustangs edge Hammon 53-51 in Thursday’s fifth-place game at the 44th Annual Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic, sponsored by Vision Bank.