Comanche teams have mixed success at regional

The Comanche basketball teams each went 1-1 in the first two days of the Class 3A Area IV Regional Tournament in Lone Grove. Unfortunately for the Indians, it means their season is over, but the Lady Indians will be playing for the chance to advance to the area tournament with a win Tuesday afternoon against Marietta.

Both teams played Frederick on Monday.

The tournament was originally supposed to begin on Thursday but was postponed twice before getting started on Saturday.

Monday

Lady Indians 76

Lady Bombers 47

Comanche shook off a loss to Marlow on Saturday by getting their biggest offensive output of the year in the win over the Lady Bombers.

Junior Gracee Miller scored 25 points and went over 1,000 career points to lead Comanche to the win.

Frederick scored the first four points of the game, but it was all Comanche from that point on.

The Lady Indians scored eight straight points to take the lead and went on to score 24 first-quarter points to take a 24-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Senior Caity Blair had one of her best offensive performances of the season, scoring eight of her total of 15 points in the opening quarter. The Lady Indians used their defense and rebounding to generate points on the offensive end.

Comanche continued to extend its lead in the second by scoring the first seven points of the quarter. The Lady Indians would go on to take a 37-22 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Frederick would get as close as 41-30, but Comanche went on a 10-0 run that pushed the lead to 21 points. They would go on to take a 60-38 lead into the final quarter.

Three Comanche players finished in double figures. Joining Miller and Blair was Kynli Morris, who came off the bench to score 11 points. Kylie Roden was next with nine points, followed by Kenley Lemons with eight, Bri Keeling with four, Kamrey Rendon with two and Breelie Garlinger with two.

Frederick ended their season with a 14-11 record, while Comanche improved to

Bombers 67

Indians 55

Frederick came into the game with a reputation of scoring a lot of points, scoring 90 points in their last three games heading into the game against Comanche. Earlier in the season, the Bombers put up 111 points in a game against Grandfield.

Comanche was able to hold the Bombers in check for most of the game until a late surge by Frederick would end Comanche's season.

Cold shooting by Frederick and stout defense by Comanche led the Indians to take the early lead. The Indians led 11-4 before Frederick closed out the opening quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 15-13 advantage into the second quarter.

Frederick had broken a 13-all tie at the first-quarter buzzer and the Bombers would never trail again.

Comanche kept it close in the second quarter, but the Bombers still managed to extend their lead to 31-23 at the half.

In the third quarter after Frederick went up 35-25, Comanche hit a hot streak with three straight three-pointers by Mason Kulbeth, Landon Ellis and Dillon Ellis that cut the lead to one point. They could not quite make it over the hump, however. With 1:50 to go in the third, Dillon Ellis hit another three-pointer that once again got the Indians to within one point, but Comanche would get no closer the rest of the way. Frederick took a 43-40 lead into the fourth.

The Indians hit a field goal drought in the fourth and the Bombers took full advantage, opening up the final quarter on a 10-1 run that pushed their lead to 53-41.

Comanche was never able to recover from that point. Frederick kept their lead in double digits as the Indians could not get their three-point attempts in the final minutes to fall.

Dillon Ellis led the Indians with 15 points, followed by Landon Ellis with 11 to round out double-figure scorers. Jeremy Crisp scored nine points, Mason Kulbeth had nine, Myles Ellis had eight, Xander Dodd had two, Corbin Bowen had two and Cason Morris had two.

The Indians end their season with a 9-15 record, while the Bombers improve to 22-4 and move on to face Lone Grove in the consolation finals Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Saturday

Indians 63

Firehawks 43

The cheer coming from the Indians locker room after the game said it all. The Indians had snapped a seven-game losing streak and lived to play one more day after beating Harding Fine Arts in the opening round of the regional tournament.

Comanche never trailed in the game, scoring the first six points and didn't allow the Firehawks closer than five points the entire game.

"We were a little sluggish in the first half, but we played better in the second half and got some things going," said Caleb Patterson, boys coach. "In the second half our defense played well and we played pretty decently offensively. Our defense has been good all year and we were able to get a lot of rebounds."

The Indians dominated the third quarter, outscoring Harding Fine Arts, 23-5 to take a comfortable 50-25 lead into the final quarter.

Myles Ellis scored 15 and Dillon Ellis scored 13 to lead Comanche. Corbin Bowen was next with nine points, followed by Mason Kulbeth with eight, Hunter Lassley with six, Cason Morris with four, Jeremy Crisp with four, and T.C. Lindsay with four.

Lady Outlaws 51,

Lady Indians 45

It was a typical rivalry game with big stakes as the two Stephens County schools battled for the right to play for the area championship. In the end, Marlow avenged its loss to the Comanche in the Stephens County Tournament final with a six-point win in the regional.

There were five ties and five lead changes in the first 10:30 minutes of game action before Marlow took the lead for good with just over five minutes left in the second quarter.

The Lady Indians hit two big scoring droughts in the game that allowed the Lady Outlaws to stay ahead. Kenley Lemons three-pointer with 5:32 left in the second quarter was the last field goal of the half for the Lady Indians as Marlow erased a one-point deficit at the end of the first quarter and turned it into a seven-point 31-24 halftime lead.

Things weren't any better for Comanche in the third quarter. Gracee Miller opened the half with a basket, but it would be the only field goal in the quarter for the Lady Indians who could just muster three points total in the quarter, allowing Marlow to pull ahead for a 40-27 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Indians did not quit, however. They got as close as three points twice in the final minute, but could not get the final push they needed as Marlow hit their final 5-of-6 free throws to stay ahead and win the game.

Comanche was led by Lemons with 13 points, followed by Gracee Miller with 11. Kynli Morris came off the bench and scored seven points. Kylie Roden was next with six, followed by Bri Keeling with four and Caity Blair with four.