Tuttle dominates Lady Owls for second time

ELGIN — A late first-half scoring spree and a solid defensive performance propelled the Tuttle Lady Tigers to a dominating 64-30 win over Elgin last Friday.

Elgin dropped to 11-6 for the season as it lost for the second time to Tuttle. Earlier in the season, Tuttle defeated the Lady Owls, 60-31. Tuttle, 16-2, is ranked No. 2 in Class 4A.

“We played a decent first half until the last minute and a half,” Elgin head coach Brett Sanders said. 

That’s when the Lady Tigers scored the final six points of the first half to lead 34-22 at intermission.

The beginning of the third quarter wasn’t any better, as Tuttle grabbed three quick steals and outscored the Lady Owls 18-2 during that stretch. Tuttle held Elgin to only eight points in the second half.

“That third quarter, we just fell asleep,” Sanders said. “We just panicked. We can’t do that against a good team. Their big girl was impossible to play against in the paint. She had several blocked shots. A 5-10 girl going over a 6-4 girl with an eight-foot wing span isn’t going to happen.”

Elgin’s two post players, Kelby Carter and Danika Pendley, combined for only nine points. Freshman point guard Maycee Hill was Elgin’s top scorer with 10 points. 

Elgin must now face Bethany, Kingfisher and Weatherford in the next week. Bethany is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, Kingfisher is No. 4 and Weatherford is No. 5 in the Class 4A rankings.

“It’s a test every night you step out there,” Sanders said. “Our biggest problem is the fear factor. We need to quit turning the ball over and get some confidence in ourselves and that’s my job, but I haven’t done a very good job.”

Elgin travels to Bethany Feb. 3 and then hosts Blanchard on Feb. 6 and Chickasha on Feb. 7. The Lady Owls will play Kingfisher on Feb. 10 and travel to Weatherford on Saturday, Feb. 11, for a 1 p.m. matchup. Elgin closes the regular season at Duncan on Feb. 14.

The district tournaments begin Feb. 17. Matchups and game times will be announced today (Feb. 3).