MARLOW — Friday night at Outlaw Gymnasium might have been the consolation semifinals of the Stephens County Tournament, but don’t tell the Bray-Doyle Lady Donkeys the game didn’t matter.

In what perhaps was the game of the tournament, the Lady Donkeys erased a nine point deficit at the end of the third quarter to claim victory over Empire 46-42, dooming the Lady Bulldogs to their sixth straight defeat.  

“Our girls just played a lot better,” B-D coach Frank Moser said. “I wish I could say it was something I did, but it wasn’t. We settled down a little bit and started getting some stops late on. Before the game we talked about a team effort and that’s what this game was all about for us.”

Empire’s Jessica Carney had a chance to tie the game late on at 45-45, but her two free throws bounced off the iron as the Lady Donkeys ran out the clock.

B-D took it’s first lead of the second half at the 1:31 mark of the fourth quarter with the score 41-40.

A 5-2 run down the stretch ensured the Lady Donkeys got a measure of revenge over the Lady Bulldogs, who had previously defeated the Lady Donkeys earlier this season.

These two teams were deadlocked at 7-7 following the first quarter, before the Lady Bulldogs (11-8) managed to take a 20-18 lead at halftime.

Solid free throw shooting for the Lady Donkeys (6-12) also contributed to the win as B-D shot 24-of-30 from the charity stripe, while Empire was 10-of-15.

Ashlee Kelly registered a double-double for the Lady Donkeys with 20 points and 17 rebounds, followed by Morgan Kovar with nine points. Erica Hatfield scored eight points, while Taylor Nichols added five points.

Empire was led by Melaina Yearby with 20 points with Kaelyn Allensworth registering eight points. Ashlie Atkinson put in six points, while Alyssa George put in four points.

GIRLS CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS

FREDERICK 50 COMANCHE 42

With 2:15 left in the fourth quarter, the Comanche Lady Indians were only down 43-41 to the Frederick Lady Bombers.

Unfortunately, that’s as close as CHS got the rest of the way.

One point down the stretch wasn’t enough to save the Lady Indians as they were eliminated from the Stephens County Tournament.

“Frederick didn’t do anything different in the fourth,” Comanche coach Sean Hushbeck said. “I think it was more about us making untimely mental mistakes. It’s hard to handle games like that when you have inexperience like we do. I was proud of the girls getting it back to a two point game like they did and now we just need to work on executing and finishing those games.”

FHS started the game on a 7-1 run before Comanche made it 7-4 going into the second quarter.

At the halftime break, CHS found itself down 19-13 and managed to cut the deficit to four points twice in the third quarter, before going down 35-25 heading into the fourth.

Payge Graham led the scoring for the Lady Indians (2-11) with 15 points, followed by Brianna Anderson with 10 points. Baylee Morgan put in seven points with Baylee Fulford scoring four points.

Frederick (6-9) was led by Courtney Haynes with 15 points, followed by Emily Wasinger with 11 points.

BOYS CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS

COMANCHE 65 BRAY-DOYLE 47

In a game that saw a total of 50 fouls called, the Comanche Indians held their nerves.

Despite a spirited effort from Bray-Doyle (1-16), CHS had too much offense on the evening as the Donkeys were eliminated.

“No doubt Bray played better than the last time we played them,” Comanche coach Nick Price said. “I don’t want to take anything away from them. It took all four quarters for us to be able to come away with the victory.”

Comanche held a 19-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, before extending the lead just slightly to 33-22 going into the halftime break.

Try as they might, the Indians couldn’t quite put the Donkeys away as B-D made sure to fight until the very end.

With three quarters complete though, the Indians lead was 51-35 and the Donkeys couldn’t muster a comeback in the fourth.

Garrett Morrow registered a double-double for the Indians (7-11) with 22 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Braden Ledford with 14 points. Mason Taylor scored seven points, with Dalton Wood adding six points.

Bray-Doyle was led by Josh Goodrich and Jesse Bearce each with 10 points. Randy Jackson scored nine points, with Craig Brown adding six points.

BOYS CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS

RYAN 63 EMPIRE 42

Double the technicals equaled double the loss for the Empire Bulldogs against Ryan on Friday.

With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, frustrations boiled over as Empire’s Cordell Setters and head coach Ryan Green were both issued technical fouls by the officials.

After the resulting free throws, the Cowboys led 54-33 and never looked back.

It was a frustrating end to a game which saw the Bulldogs lead 6-5 at the 3:02 mark of the first quarter, only to see the Cowboys take a 15-9 lead going into the second.

RHS kept up the pressure, leading 29-16 at halftime, before extending the lead to 49-29 at the end of the third quarter.

Braden Hill paced the Bulldogs (4-15) with 15 points followed by Evan Whitt with 10 points. Cooper Hill scored eight points, while Cordell Setters added seven points.

Lucas Ninman earned a double-double with 33 points and 14 rebounds for the Cowboys (3-8) with G.W. Seay scoring nine points. Tyler Brown put in eight points on the night.