Comanche swept by Byng

The Comanche basketball teams took a pair of losses in a makeup game against Byng at home last Saturday. The Lady Indians fell to the Lady Pirates, 46-35, while the Indians lost to the Pirates, 59-44.

The teams played their final regular season game Tuesday and will travel to Lone Grove this Friday for the district tournament. The girls will play at 6:30 p.m. and the boys will play at 8 p.m.

Lady Pirates 46

Lady Indians 35

Comanche beat Byng by 22 points earlier in the season at the Lindsay tournament, but the Lady Indians have been in an offensive slump the past few games and Byng was able to take advantage of it.

The Lady Indians shot about 10 three pointers in the contest, but not a single one would fall. Meanwhile, the Lady Pirates knocked down six of their attempts.

“You go through slumps,” said Comanche coach Megan Robbins. “You keep shooting and at some point they start falling. That’s just the way it goes, sometimes. We have faith in our shooters knocking them down, they’ve just got to spend more time in the gym and shoot their way out.”

After starting the season 14-1, the Lady Indians have dropped three out of their last five. Last Tuesday, they were down by 16 to Kingston, a top 15 team in Class 3A and almost came back to win it.

“We played terrible against Kingston that first half and only had 11 points and then we come out and score 11 points in the third quarter,” Robbins said. “We’ve just got to get out of these slow starts and knocking down shots and we’ll be fine.”

Byng never trailed, scoring the first five points of the game. Comanche’s first field goal did not come until the 2:30 mark of the first quarter as the Lady Indians trailed 10-5. Comanche’s defense was able to generate some offense, but Byng stayed out front, leading by as much as 17-6 before Comanche cut the lead to five points at halftime, 26-21.

The Lady Indians would get no closer than four points in the third quarter as Byng steadily built their lead, taking a 40-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

Byng knocked down two three pointers in the first couple of minutes of the fourth to push the lead as high as 19 points. Comanche would try to make a run late, scoring nine straight points, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

Gracee Miller led Comanche with 23 points. Kenley Lemons was next with six points, followed by Caity Blair with three, Kynli Morris with two and Keira Pineda with one.

Pirates 59,

Indians 44

There were five lead changes and three ties in the contest. Byng’s three-pointer to open the third would give the Pirates the lead for good.

Comanche led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter and held a narrow 21-20 lead at the half.

The three-pointer to open the third quarter, however, was a the beginning of a 17-2 run that the Indians could never recover from. The Pirates went on to take a 40-27 lead into the final quarter.

Comanche was never able to make a run in the final quarter. Byng almost answered the Indians bucket for bucket and kept Comanche at a safe distance.

Dillon Ellis scored 10 of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter. Myles Ellis was second on the team with nine points. Cason Morris followed with six points, Mason Kulbeth had five and Jeremy Crisp, Brycen Lassley, Corbin Bowen and Landon Ellis had two each.

The loss dropped Comanche to 8-12 on the season.

Friday

Comanche girls 61

Tishomingo 22

The Lady Indians used their pressure defense to lead to some easy buckets on the other end as they defeated host Tishomingo.

Comanche had double digits in every quarter, starting off with 15 in the first, followed by back-to-back 17 point performances and closed out with 12 points in the final quarter.

Gracee Miller led Comanche with 17 points, followed by Kenley Lemons with 9, Kamrey Rendon and Caity Blair with eight, Kylie Rendon with seven, Bri Keeling with six, Karsynn Bowles with five, and Kynli Morris with one.

Tishomingo boys 52

Comanche 49

The Indians came oh-so-close to pulling out a road win. Jeremy Crisp’s three pointer at the buzzer was off the mark to send the game into overtime.

It was a contested game throughout with neither team able to seize control. There were seven lead changes and four ties in the game.

Comanche held a slim 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to a 10-0 run to close it out. Comanche would lead by as many as seven points in the second quarter, but Tishomingo worked its way back into the game and eventually took the lead before two free throws by Landon Ellis tied the game at 28-all at the half.

Comanche would take the lead on a three-pointer by Mason Kulbeth to give the Indians a 31-28 advantage and they would hold the lead for the rest of the quarter, taking a 38-37 advantage into the final quarter.

There was a fury of lead changes to open the fourth before Tishomingo took the lead for good with under three minutes to go.

With 30 seconds to go, Kulbeth made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 50-49, but it would be as close as Comanche would get.

Kulbeth led Comanche with 19 points, followed by Dillon Ellis with 11, Landon Ellis with eight, Cason Morris and Jeremy Crisp with five each.