By CRAIG HALL
SPIRO—It was a Pocola night Saturday in the finals of the LeFlore County Tournament championship games played in front of an overflow crowd.
After four nights of the tournament, which had been delayed twice by weather, the finals were staged before the largest crowd for a finals in several years.
The Lady Indians overcame an early deficit to knock off defending champion Howe, 53-41, as tournament MVP Allysa Parker was practically unstoppable, and the Indians’ boys, ranked second in Class 2A, stayed undefeated with an 80-40 win in the second championship game as the two teams in the finals are scheduled to play three days later at Pocola in Black Diamond Conference play.
The top two teams from both divisions advanced to the finals
Pocola’ girls, ranked 15th, improve to 11-4 against a difficult schedule. The third-ranked Lady Lions are now 13-3 and play Vian at home Thursday.
Parker scored 31 points, including 7-7 from the free-throw line, and could not be stopped while leading Pocola to avenge a 52-41 loss Dec. 12.
Karsyn Nye, who hit the game-winning basket at the buzzer in Howe’s semifinal win over Spiro, led Howe with 19 points. Jazz Harrison added 10 points for Howe.
As impressive as the Lady Indians were, Pocola’s boys more were even more dominant in the 80-40 win. The Indians were simply too quick and big for the Wolves, who had rallied in the previous two games to defeat Howe and Poteau on a conventional 3-point play by Isaac Cook with 2.2 seconds remaining.
While Pocola’s office was obviously good, it might not be as good as the Indians’ smothering defense as Pocola pressured the Wolves from half court and Heavener had trouble getting shots and when the Wolves did, it was frequently altered by Pocola’s 6-8 post, Dakota Terrell.
Pocola’s Garrett Scott was unstoppable with long shots and drives to the basket, scoring 39 points as he was a big part in the Indians winning the final three tournament championships. Austin Hardwick added 16 points for Pocola.
Heavener, now 10-6, was obviously disappointed with the loss, but made it to the finals over 11 other teams in the tournament. Canyon Ford came off the bench to lead the Wolves with eight points.
Here are the finals
Champions
Girls
Pocola 53, Howe 41
Boys Pocola 80, Heavener 40
3rd place
Girls
Poteau 53, Spiro 45
Boys
Wister 63, Poteau 48
5th place
Girls
Panama 55, Whitesboro 38
Boys
Spiro 56, Panama 34
Consolation
Girls
LeFlore 50, Wister 46
Boys
Whitesboro 49, Cameron 24
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