Facing a rugged slate of foes in their return to the Bertha Teague Mid America Classic over Christmas break, the Class A second ranked Caddo Lady Bruins suffered their first two losses of the season in three outings.
Coach Kolby Johnson’s squad came up on the short end of a brutally tough opener against 2A’s fourth-rated Latta in a 49-41 verdict. They went ice cold to start the consolation semifinals, falling to Class 5A Duncan, 54-27.
Then in the seventh-place contest, Caddo rallied for a 44-35 win against Class 4A Purcell to improve its record to 9-2 on the season.
Much like their second round loss, a slow offensive start was the story for the Lady Bruins in the opening loss to Latta as they were shut out in the opening period. The Lady Panthers took advantage of the scoring dry spell to build a 24-13 edge at intermission and increased the margin to as much at 16 points late in the third stanza.
Caddo found some offensive rhythm to narrow the gap back to single digits in the fourth frame but the hole was too large to dig out of.
The Lady Bruins hit 37 percent from the field while Latta took advantage of 53 percent shooting on its end.
Jaycie Nichols had a solid performance with 19 points while Brilee Tyson chipped in a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Game two was even worse in the shooting department as Caddo hit only two of 23 shots in the first half, going scoreless in the second period to trail 28-8 at the half. The Lady Demons bumped the margin to 39-14 at the end of the third and continued to pull away.
Johnson’s troops connected on just 18 percent from the field for the game, including five of 34 on three pointers.
Harlee Taylor posted 10 points to finish as the scoring leader as Belle Hookom chipped in six along with six rebounds.
Caddo finally found its shooting touch a bit more in the Purcell finale, grabbing a 12-10 edge through one quarter and extended it to 23-18 at intermission. After the Lady Dragons narrowed the margin to 30-28 heading to the final period the Lady Bruins had the answer with a strong finish fueled by Jaycie Nichols.
The Lady Bruins still only connected on 32 percent from the field, including just two treys, but cashed in with 22 free throws on the way to the win.
Nichols poured in 23 points, including nine of 13 at the charity stripe, pulling down a whopping 14 rebounds as well.
Hookom also reached double figures with 10 points as Taylor chipped in seven.
