TAYLOR, LADY BEARCATS TIE 3 POINT RECORDS IN WIN OVER HEAVENER

With Haylee Taylor scoring 21 points on a school record tying seven 3 pointers and the Lady Bearcats hitting another school record tying 11 as a team, the Lady Bearcats advanced to the Bill Frye Invitational consolation final with a 58-46 win over Heavener, Okla. Saturday afternoon.

Thirty-five seconds before halftime Saturday Taylor hit a 3-pointer to cut a Heavener lead to 24-23.

Granted, the sharp-shooting sophomore hitting a 3 is not exactly and it was actually her second of the day, but Taylor, who had gone scoreless in an opening round loss to Centerpoint, had found her range with that shot.

Taylor (shown) would hit five more 3s by the 6:36 mark of the final quarter and the Lady Bearcats (6-7) were on their way to the win over the Lady Wolves.

Ironically, it was a 3 from Tempi Terry, who is usually stationed inside, that gave the Lady Bearcats a 25-24 lead just 13 seconds into the second half against the Oklahoma entry into the Mansfield tournament.

A 3 by Taylor made it 28-24 and another by Anna Ferguson, who scored 8 points and had 6 assists, stopped a 7-0 Heavener run and tied the game at 31-31.

A free throw gave the Lady Wolves a lead with 2:31 left in the quarter but Taylor rained 3s with 2:04, 1:26, and 0:40 to play in the quarter – all on assists from Angie Brown, who had 8 of them – and the Lady Bearcats took a 40-34 lead to the final quarter.

A Raelynn Franklin basket and Taylor’s record-tying seventh 3 sandwiched a couple of Heavener free throws to make it 45-36 with 6:23 to play but less than a minute later it was 45-41.

Terry, who finished with 16 points, then took over from the inside with three straight scores for her team over a span of 1:34 to push the lead out to 51-43.

Heavener cut it to 51-46 only to have Franklin drop the record-tying 11th 3 of the day for the Lady Bearcats to start a 7-0 game ending run.

The first quarter saw the teams battle to a 13-13 standstill after the Lady Bearcats overcame an early 8-0 Lady Wolf run.

Baylee Parnell scored twice early in the second quarter before to give the Lady Bearcats a short-lived lead as Heavener would go up by as many as five before halftime.

Centerpoint 44 Lady Bearcats 27

The Lady Bearcats led briefly on a free throw by Angie Brown and was within 8-6 at the end of the first quarter on a buzzer beating layup by Brown, but the Lady Knights would take over in the middle quarters.

Centerpoint would open a 12-point lead before halftime which was trimmed to a single digit when Anna Ferguson hit a 3, but it was a 33-17 Centerpoint lead at the end of the third quarter.

Brown would lead the Lady Bearcats with 9 points.

The Lady Bearcats were scheduled to face conference foe Cossatot River in the consolation final at 1:40 on Monday but that pairing has been changed to against Hackett at 11 a.m.