Late surge lifts Empire girls over Comanche

COMANCHE - The Empire Lady Bulldogs punched their ticket to the final of the Stephens County Tournament for the first time in more than a decade as they used a late push to pull away from Comanche, 51-36, on Thursday night in front of a standing-room only crowd.

Empire looked as if they were going to run away with the game from the start, using its pressure defense to bolt out to a 10-0 lead, but the Lady Indians didn't give up and got within one possession of tying or going ahead a couple of times, but an 11 point run late in the third quarter/early fourth quarter gave the Lady Bulldogs the breathing room they needed.

The Lady Indians are the top seed for the first time since 1993. The Lady Indians, the defending county champs, are seeded fifth. They were the only lower seed in the tournament to win their first-round game.

Comanche outscored Empire 7-4 in the last half of the first quarter to make the score 16-9 heading into the second quarter.

The Lady Indians got a little momentum going in the second quarter, outscoring Empire 11-6 to cut the Lady Bulldogs lead to 22-20 at the half.

In the third quarter, after Comanche had cut the lead to 29-26, Empire closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run to push the lead back to double digits at 36-26. They followed it up with a 6-0 run to begin the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

Empire will take on Marlow in the championship game at 6:30 p.m., Saturday. Comanche will play Ryan in the third-place game at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Scoring

Empire (14-2): Kenley Lemons, 19; KK Smith, 17; Kiera Pineda, 8; Dani Kowalik, 4; Shiann Walker, 3

Comanche (5-11): Kylie Roden, 15; Jaylee Roebuck 12; Kamrey Rendon, 6; Karsynn Bowles, 5