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Calera Lady Bulldogs pose after winning the Bryan County Basketball Tournament championship game Saturday evening at Bloomer Sullivan Arena. The Lady Bulldogs defeated the Caddo Lady Bruins 46-43. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat -
Calera Lady Bulldog McKenzie Condor leaps with the ball during the tournament championship game with the Caddo Lady Bruins. -
Caddo Lady Bruin Jaycie Nichols is about to shoot the ball. -
Caddo Lady Bruin Kayden Prince has the ball during the championship game with Calera. -
Calera Lady Bulldog Carlaysia Brown goes up for a basket in the championship game with Caddo. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat
Calera snapped Caddo’s bid for a fourth straight Bryan County Tournament girls championship Saturday night at Bloomer Sullivan Arena with a 46-43 title game triumph.
Making their first championship appearance since 2013, Calera led through most of the nip-and-tuck battle to run their winning streak to 13 while improving to 16-1 on the season.
Lady Bulldog sophomore Emma Daniel earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors with a big second half performance. Calera’s Amariah McLaughlin joined Jaycie Nichols and Kadey McKay from Caddo, Tushka’s Shyler Hurt and Gracie Holt of Achille on the All-Tournament team.
Championship Calera 46, Caddo 43
Daniel sank a pair of first half treys but it was a strong first half from Kenzie Condor, who pumped in nine points before intermission, that helped Calera lead most of the opening two frames.
Caddo responded with five three pointers in the second stanza, including three from Nichols during an 11-point eruption to tie the score at 25 going to the break.
It was Kayden Prince that stepped to the scoring forefront for the Lady Bruins early in the third frame to briefly put Caddo in front. McLaughlin however answered with a pivotal three-point play and Daniel added two more treys to make it 38-37 Calera edge after three stanzas.
After being held in check through those three quarters Carlaysia Brown answered in the fourth with back-to-back buckets and McLaughlin chipped in two field goals of her own to help ice the victory.
Daniel finished with four three points and tallied a team-high 14 points with McLaughlin also reaching double figures with 11. Condor tossed in nine for Calera, Brown added six as Macy Strahan and Kaysun Thralls pitched in three apiece.
Prince tied Nichols with high scoring honors for Caddo as each powered through 14 points. McKay ended with 10 to go with three from Rylan Peevyhouse and two by Jordyn Nichols as Class A’s second-ranked Lady Bruins slipped to 14-3 on the season.
Third Place Tushka 52, Rock Creek 29
Shyler Hurt poured in 20 points and Rock Creek had no offensive answer in the tournament third place battle.
Tushka was up just 10-8 through one quarter but broke it wide open with a 19-8 second period advantage. The Lady Tigers made it a 42-24 cushion at the end of three stanzas.
Morgan Bryant hit two three pointers and led Rock Creek with 12 points. Laynie Knight scored eight, Maddie Williams had seven and Macey Weger chipped in two.
Consolation Achille 45, Boswell 30
Achille held a narrow 22-18 edge at halftime before pulling away in the second half for the victory.
The Lady Eagles were up 3525 going to the final frame and then outscored Boswell by a 10-5 margin in the fourth.
Gracie Holt topped all scorers with 18 points as Hermoine Hagood also reached double figures with 13. Keeli Ervin added six, Trinity Barnes and Blaine Burgess scored three apiece with Emma Witt posting two.
Semifinals Caddo 50, Rock Creek 22
It was all Caddo from the start as the Lady Bruins put on an offensive blitz from the tip while stifling the Lady Mustangs along the way.
Caddo was up 12-3 after one period, 29-8 at intermission and held a commanding 4010 advantage going into the fourth.
Jaycie Nichols fueled the Lady Bruins with 15 points. McKay and Harlee Taylor tossed in eight apiece, Jordyn Nichols had seven, Danica Lanig scored five, Prince added four and Peevyhouse pitched in three.
Bryant and Audrey Knight paced Rock Creek as both scored six points. Williams had four, Weger three, Lainey Knight ended with two and Olivia Whitaker one.
Calera 57, Tushka 24 In a rematch of the Tushka tournament championship just two weeks earlier, Calera came away victorious but in a much more lopsided fashion.
The Lady Bulldogs held a 10-5 edge after one quarter and that cushion ballooned to 26-9 at halftime and 41-14 through three frames.
Brown topped three players in double figures for Calera, tossing in 14 points with Daniel adding 13 and Taylynn Conder 10 before leaving with an injury. McLaughlin posted seven, Condor had six, Strahan scored four, Thralls had two and Chloe Owings one.