Lady Owls overcome shooting woes for 55-38 win

ALTUS – Nerves aside, Elgin’s Lady Owls overcame some early shooting struggles to post a season-opening 55-38 win over the Altus Lady Bulldogs Tuesday.

Midway through the third period, Elgin came alive and began to sink the shots the Lady Owls were expected to make earlier in the game.

“We played a little nervous from the beginning and didn’t shoot the ball well. Altus is a lot better than I thought and was very physical and did a good job offensively, which gave us problems defensively,” Elgin head coach Brett Sanders said.

Altus was 2-1 heading into the matchup with the one loss coming in overtime.

Sanders stressed that the Lady Owls had open looks at the basket, but simply missed the shots.

“We can’t let little things bother our game. We need to mature,” he said. “I think what we had was first game jitters.

Sanders praised freshman point guard Macie Hill who “stepped up on offense and defense.” 

“She played well and did a good job running the offense as a freshman,” he said.

Hill finished with 21 points followed by Kelby Carter with 12. Addy Choate added six points with Danica Pendley contributing five.

After notching its first win, Elgin had to prepare for the Boomerang Classic Dec. 8-10 in Dale, which started Thursday against Oklahoma Christian Academy. If the Lady Owls win, they would play the winner of the Kingston-Cushing game at 4 p.m. If Elgin loses, they will play the loser of the Kingston-Cushing game at 1 p.m.

Elgin continues its season by hosting Duncan Tuesday, Dec. 13 followed by a road game Dec. 16 at Western Conference foe Newcastle. Both games have a 6:30 p.m. tipoff.