Lady Owls claim district title win 46-37

  • Elgin’s bench celebrates after freshman post player Kelby Carter, foreground, scores a bucket that gave the Lady Owls a 42-36 lead with 34 seconds left to play in the district tournament game last Friday. Carter finished with 12 points. HUGH SCOTT JR. | SOUTHWEST CHRONICLE
    Elgin’s bench celebrates after freshman post player Kelby Carter, foreground, scores a bucket that gave the Lady Owls a 42-36 lead with 34 seconds left to play in the district tournament game last Friday. Carter finished with 12 points. HUGH SCOTT JR. | SOUTHWEST CHRONICLE
  • Kelby Carter battles for the ball with a Community Christian player during district tourney action last Friday. The Lady Owls defeated CCS 46-37. HUGH SCOTT JR. | SOUTHWEST CHRONICLE
    Kelby Carter battles for the ball with a Community Christian player during district tourney action last Friday. The Lady Owls defeated CCS 46-37. HUGH SCOTT JR. | SOUTHWEST CHRONICLE
  • Freshman post player Danika Pendley passes the ball to a teammate despite being swarmed by Community Christian defenders. HUGH SCOTT JR. | SOUTHWEST CHRONICLE
    Freshman post player Danika Pendley passes the ball to a teammate despite being swarmed by Community Christian defenders. HUGH SCOTT JR. | SOUTHWEST CHRONICLE

NORMAN — Freshman Kelby Carter scored five of Elgin’s final seven points in the last 34 seconds to propel the Lady Owls to a 46-37 win and a Class 4A district championship over Community Christian last Friday.

Carter, who had injured her ankle earlier in the game, retrieved the ball after a near Elgin turnover and scored a bucket and a plus-one with 34 seconds left to play, giving the Lady Owls a 42-36 lead. Freshman point guard Maycee Hill followed that with two free throws 15 seconds later, and Carter sank two more charity attempts with nine ticks left on the clock to seal the win.

Elgin, 14-10, advances to the regional tournament next Thursday at Bethany. Elgin will play No. 3-ranked Bethany at 6 p.m.

Bethany defeated McGuinness in the district final last week 94-56.

“We came through. I’m proud of our team,” Elgin head coach Brett Sanders said. “We played a good team and were able to finish. I’m proud of the way the girls played in the fourth quarter. They stepped it up and made some big threes.”

The Lady Owls connected on three three-point buckets in the fourth quarter, including two from sophomore Maddy Nez, who finished the game with nine points. Elgin led 31-30 when Nez hit her first trey and 34-32 when she connected on her second shot from behind the arc. Her three-point bucket gave Elgin its 37-34 lead with 3:34 left to play.

The game was close from the opening tipoff until Elgin broke it open in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. Community Christian held a brief 24-23 lead, but senior Taylor Squyres changed that with a three-point bucket to reclaim the lead, 26-24. 

The game was tied two more times, but Elgin never trailed again.

Community Christian’s full-court press gave the Lady Owls some problems throughout the game.

“We worked all week long (in practice) and broke it every time. Tonight, we got a little panic in us,” Sanders said. “We were hesitating, and you can’t do that. If you hesitate in a press, you’re in trouble.”

Hill led Elgin in scoring with 17 points, including three three-point buckets in the first half, followed by Carter with 12.

If Elgin loses the first-round game against Bethany, the Lady Owls will play the winner of the Western Heights-Cushing game at 6 p.m. Friday at Bethany. If the Lady Owls were to pull an upset against Bethany, Elgin would play the winner of the Oklahoma Christian School-Bristow game at 6 p.m. Saturday.