By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Another game, another double-digit win for the Lockwood girls basketball team.
Another tournament championship, too.
The Tigers caused a flurry of turnovers with their full-court pressure and pulled away from Greenfield in the second half to earn a 61-40 victory Saturday night in the championship game of the 70th Annual Golden City Tournament.
Lockwood improved to 14-1 with the win.
“I think they’re playing pretty well, having some fun and hopefully that will help us as we get into this backstretch of the season which is going to be really tough,” said Lockwood coach Clay Lasater. “We’re the only Class 1 school in our conference so when we get into conference play it gets really tough. I think there are like four or five teams in our conference ranked in Class 1, 2 and 3 so it’s going to be really tough. Hopefully we’re playing well enough to compete in those games.”
The Tigers, who last won the Golden City championship in 2017 and 2018, beat a Greenfield team that won the title in 2019 and 2020. The two teams played earlier this season, with Lockwood winning by 36 points, but Saturday’s rematch was a closer affair.
The Tigers jumped out to a 9-2 lead and led 14-11 after a quarter. That grew to 21-14 after a 3-pointer by Molly Hedeman, and it was 23-14 after Hedeman added a layup with 3:09 left in the first half.
The Wildcats trailed by 11 before getting back into it with a quick run before the half. Addington Roberts scored 3 points, Gracie Chandler scored a layup and Drew Miller converted a three-point play that made it 25-22 with about a minute left in the second quarter.
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Lockwood, though, ended the half with a free throw by Asa Lasater, a basket by Hedeman and a 3-pointer from Lasater to lead by 9.
“I felt like we just needed to keep playing hard and do what we do,” Lasater said. “I thought the Greenfield girls did a really good job of executing some things early and taking care of the basketball and taking care of the pressure we were putting on them. I think they were well prepared and they did a good job early. We were just hoping we could put so much pressure through the entire game that we could eventually create some turnovers. We eventually did and we were able to take advantage of those and give us a few buckets. That gave us a small gap there and we were able to hang onto it.”
A free throw by Lockwood’s Peyton Lasater got the lead back up to double digits in the third quarter, and the Tigers finished the period by limiting Greenfield to just two free throws and no field goals in the final three-and-a-half minutes. Asa Lasater’s layup in the final seconds gave Lockwood a 45-31 advantage with one quarter remaining.
Lockwood’s suffocating defense was on full display in the fourth, with the Wildcats failing to score on nine of their first 10 possessions and committing at least eight turnovers in the frame. The Tigers, meanwhile, got points from four different players in the fourth as their lead grew to as many as 25 points.
“We’re just not a very big team, we’re pretty small so we have to play really fast,” Lasater said. “Our girls are really good, hardworking kids and they buy into that and hustle everywhere. They create a lot of hustle plays getting their hands on balls just based off effort because they’re not very big.”
Asa Lasater led Lockwood with 31 points, Peyton Lasater and Hedeman each scored 11 and Hadley Abbiatti added 8.
Greenfield (10-8) was led by 15 points from Drew Miller and 14 from Addington Roberts. Reyanah Chandler added 5, Cailey Boyd scored 4 and Gracie Chandler scored 2.
All-Tournament Team
Asa Lasater was named tournament MVP, with Peyton Lasater earning first-team honors and Abbiatti nabbing second-team honors.
Greenfield’s Miller and Roberts were first-team selections.
Other tournament honorees were Dadeville’s Claire Mitchell (2nd), Jasper’s Chloe Storm (2nd), Liberal’s Tegan Dyer (2nd), Diamond’s Lilly Hoyer (2nd), Jasper’s Alivea Roberts (1st) and Everton’s Olivia Sartin (1st).
Jasper’s Treyton Richart was joined on the first team by Greenfield’s Andrew Mays.
