After seeing their three-year stranglehold of the Bryan County Tournament title snapped a year ago with a finals loss to Calera, the Caddo Lady Bruins obviously had a firm focus of history not repeating itself on Saturday night.
Class A’s second-ranked Lady Bruins took control in the opening quarter and slowly pulled away from Calera before breaking things wide open in the fourth stanza for a 53-30 win at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The win improved Caddo’s record to 15-2 on the season while Calera, which is ranked ninth in 2A, saw a 12-game winning streak snapped in falling to 14-2 on the year.
Tushka rolled to a 51-25 triumph in the tournament third place game with Rock Creek claiming the consolation title over Achille, 38-33.
Caddo’s Jaycie Nichols was named tournament Most Valuable Player with Tushka’s Shyler Hurt, Caddo’s Jordyn Nichols and Kayden Prince, Calera’s Emma Daniel and Taylynn Conder selected for All Tournament.
Caddo 53, Calera 30
Utilizing a revolving door of substitutions, Caddo capitalized on their depth to keep the pressure on the Lady Bulldogs.
Despite being uncharacteristically cold from the perimeter while hitting just one of their first 12 three-point attempts, the Lady Bruins were able to take advantage of enough transition and putback opportunities for points.
Senior Jaycie Nichols was the catalyst in her MVP effort and the model of consistency while pumping in four points in every quarter to lead the charge. Bella Hookum chipped in four in the first frame as well with Caddo claiming a 14-11 edge in spite of six early points from Calera guard Emma Daniel.
That cushion expanded to 25-19 at intermission as Jaycie and Jordyn Nichols teamed with Hookum for all of the Caddo points, once again offsetting six by Calera post Taylynn Conder.
Caddo continued the same style out of the break to outpoint the Lady Bulldogs 13-9 in the period, carrying a 38-28 lead to the fourth where plenty of reserves saw action. The Lady Bruins also found the range in sinking three treys to outdistance Calera 15-2 in the final eight minutes.
Jaycie Nichols poured in 16 points while Jordyn Nichols and Hookum pitched in 12 each. The Lady Bruins also picked up nine points from Kayden Prince, three for Harlee Taylor and one by Brilee Tyson.
Conder was the lone Lady Bulldog in double figures, ending with 13 points. Daniel and Carlaysia Brown had six each, Taibree Melton added three and Jesslyn O’Dell contributed two.
Tushka 51, Colbert 25
Following a tight first quarter, Tushka put it away with a 21-9 second period burst and never looked back from there.
Shyler Hurt and Kylie Lee each posted double figures for the Lady Tigers with 12 and 10 points respectively.
Aericca Olson notched a solid 16 points in spurring Colbert.
Rock Creek 38, Achille 33
The Lady Mustangs cashed in strong first and third stanzas and held off Achille for the consolation crown.
Laynie Knight proved to be the Rock Creek catalyst, especially with nine of her team’s 12 points in the third period, ending with a gamehigh 18 points.
Audrey Knight contributed six while Macy Weaver, Macy Weger and Brittany Greenhaw all had four points each.
Semifinals Caddo 66, Tushka 36
An early scoring and three-point shooting blitz by Caddo suffocated the Lady Tigers from the get-go and they were never able to recover while the Lady Bruins moved into the tournament championship for the seventh straight year.
The Lady Bruins cruised to a 26-8 advantage after one stanza and that ballooned to 41-16 at the halftime break.
Caddo finished the contest with 10 three pointers, five of which came from the hot hand of Jaycie Nichols as she wrapped up with a game-high 21 points. Prince hit a pair of treys en route to 14 points with Hookum adding 11 and Rylan Peevyhouse reaching double figures with 10, including three treys of her own.
Bella Alberda pitched in 10 points to pace Tushka.
Calera 46, Colbert 21
A 20-0 Calera first quarter surge took any suspense out of this one very early on with Conder pumping in nine of her team-high 18 points in that stanza.
The Lady Bulldogs led 38-6 at intermission and coasted the rest of the way.
Amariah McLaughlin added 10 points with Daniel tossing in seven and Kaira Beller six off of two treys.
Olson topped Colbert scoring with nine points.
