Strong defensive performances spurred the Rock Creek Lady Mustangs to the Tushka Invitational championship last weekend.
Coach Matt Ward’s squad rolled past Coalgate (56-31), Tushka (40-25) and Tishomingo (56-36) in claiming the crown. Carlaysia Brown was named the tournament Most Valuable Player with Maddie Williams also tabbed for All-Tournament.
In the opener the Lady Mustangs rumbled to a 15-5 edge through one quarter and yielded less than 10 points in each period while building as much as a 32-point bulge.
Brown fueled the scoring with 22 points as Ella Hamill contributed 12 with four from Williams.
It was a 19-5 first quarter scoring burst in the Tushka victory while building a big 29-11 halftime advantage. Brown again paced the attack with 16 points as Williams tallied nine and Audrey Knight scored eight.
The story was the same but two-fold in the title match as Rock Creek was up 21-5 following one quarter. It was 3517 at half and 50-24 through three periods.
Another big outing from Brown produced 24 points while Williams and Hamill hit for 10 each as Knight with nine.
Calera Boys
A late rally fell just short for the Bulldogs as they dropped a 46-41 decision to Coalgate in the finals of the Tushka Invitational.
Coalgate built a 14-5 edge through one period before Calera began a methodical rally, which included nine points from Logan Bumgarner in the fourth quarter alone. Bumgarner ended with a game-high 19 points as Talon Rose pitched in seven and Gary Chaffin had six.
Calera toppled Tishomingo in the title contest as they began with a 12-9 scoring flurry and closed with a 20-7 blitz that helped put it completely out of reach.
Zaiden Craige led three players in double figures with 17 points, Bumgarner contributed 15, Rose scored 10 and Chaffin finished with nine.
In the semifinals, Calera trailed 14-12 through one stanza facing Antlers but came back to grab a 29-26 edge at halftime and it was all Bulldogs from there for the 56-48 win. Craige had a massive first half and ended the game with 21. Bumgarner scored nine, Chaffin had eight and Lex Carlton tossed in seven.