Holding the Oologah Lady Mustangs to a single field goal in the second half, the Grove Lady Ridgerunners broke open a tied game and cruised to their fourth straight victory on Friday night, blowing out Oologah 42-21.
The game was tied at 16 at halftime, and both teams continued to struggle offensively in the third quarter, as Grove (9-9) outscored Oologah 9-2 to take a 25-16 lead.
That’s when Grove junior guard Karah Bassett put the game away, hitting on back-to-back threes and scoring 8 points in the first 4:45 of the fourth period to make it 35-21 with just over three minutes left, effectively ending the game.
Bassett scored 10 of her game-high 18 points in the final period, hitting four three-pointers on a night when both teams had trouble scoring. Libby Morris added 12 points and 6 rebounds for Grove.
Brinley Evans led Oologah (7-15) with 14 points and 8 rebounds, scoring 13 of those points in the first half to keep the Lady Mustangs in the game despite 12 first half turnovers. Her three in the final seconds of the opening quarter gave Oologah an 11-9 lead, the first and only lead of the night for the Lady Mustangs.
Grove would score five straight to start the second quarter, taking their largest lead of the first half at 14-11 with 5:21 left, but Grove could only get a single field goal the rest of the way, and Oologah clawed back to tie the game.
The Lady Mustangs finished with 23 turnovers overall. The Lady Ridgerunners did not do much better with 19 of their own, but Grove hit 13-of-15 free throws on the night and shot the ball much better from the field, winning for the fifth time in their last six games
