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  • Kieley Clift goes up in traffic during the Saturday, Jan. 12 game against Guthrie. Clift scored nine points in the 43-38 loss. Aaron Colen/Express-Star

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January 15, 2013

Lady Chicks come up short in close games

Aaron Colen, Sports Editor, Aaron.Colen@chickashanews.com The Express-Star

CHICKASHA — After a blowout victory in the first round of the Chickasha Basketball Classic on Thursday night, the Chickasha High School girls basketball team lost two close games on its way to a fourth place finish in the tournament.

Friday, the Lady Chicks lost to the Lawton MacArthur Lady Highlanders 36-35, before losing 43-38 to Guthrie in the third-place game Saturday.

The Chickasha girls are now 5-8 this season, and have gone 3-3 in tournament games.

"We lost to two 5A teams that are ranked right around us by six points combined," head coach Christy Edelen said. "It's just frustrating. The good thing is, we had some different people come in and step up and help us out tonight, but we've just got to find a way to kind of mesh and be more consistent and do those little things right."

One of those players that stepped up for the Lady Chicks was freshman center Taylor Sylvester.

After scoring 10 fourth-quarter points against Duncan, Sylvester got the start Friday against Lawton MacArthur and scored 15 points, including seven in the fourth quarter to give the Lady Chicks a chance to win.

Sylvester had two free throws in the final seconds that could have tied the game for Chickasha, but she only made one out of two. Still, her teammates and coaches were supportive of the freshman that carried the team late.

"That's a good thing that's happened in this tournament for sure," Edelen said. "We hope Alex [Stewart] is back soon. Then we can add in some of these people who have stepped up, and that'll be something that should help us as well."

Sierra Hamilton had nine points and Kieley Clift scored seven in the game against Lawton MacArthur. Dominique Golightly had four.

Chickasha dug itself into an early deficit in Saturday's game against Guthrie, and spent the rest of the game trying to climb back out.

Guthrie started the game on a 9-0 run, and led 13-2 after the first quarter. Chickasha came back and trailed by five at halftime and four after the third quarter, eventually taking a 30-29 lead with 6:28 left in the fourth. That was Chickasha's only lead of the game, and Guthrie took it back just a few minutes later.

Eight turnovers in the last 5:30 of the game prevented Chickasha from earning the third place trophy. The Lady Chicks also left some points on the board at the free throw line, where they shot 16 for 24 as a team.

"We did a good job, we just made too many turnovers  and missed too many free throws, and gave too many defensive boards to their offensive boards," Edelen said. "We're just giving them too many easy things."

Golightly was Chickasha's leading scorer with 19 points. Clift scored nine, and Hamilton scored six points.

The Lady Chicks are scheduled to host No. 3 Deer Creek at 6:30 p.m. tonight.

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