Tiger girls excel in the clutch

ODESSA - When the game was on the line, Tigers' senior Melloney Deife came through on both ends of the court to lead her team to a 49-47 win over Wilbur-Creston-Keller. And the Tiger boys came out strong, but their inability to maintain possession of the ball led to an easy 66-46 win for the Wildcats Tuesday, Jan. 16.

On the girls' side, Karsen Brashears scored 10 points to give the Wildcats a 14-12 lead after one period.

In the second quarter, Hayden Schuh's six points and Ashley Zagelow's long 3-point shot helped the Tigers keep pace with Wilbur-Creston, but Kaidyn Maioho's seven points extended the Wildcats lead to 28-24 at the intermission.

In the second half, Schuh grabbed eight rebounds while Deife became more active on offense with two 3-point shots. The Tigers and Wildcats were tied at 39 after three quarters.

At the two-minute mark, Schuh drove the baseline and dropped in two points to bring her team to within two points at 45-43. Deife then stole the ball at mid-court and drove the lane for a lay-in to tie the game at 45.

20 seconds later, Deife sank two free throws to put her team up by two points. She completed her late game heroics with a soft floater in the lane to seal the 49-47 win for Odessa.

"This was the best game we've played as a team," Deife said. "Each of us rebounded, scored and played really good defense. Hayden Schuh was a rebounding machine tonight. We spent a lot of time working on our free throws and that helped too."

Odessa head coach Travis Schuh said that after committing 35 turnovers against Almira-Coulee-Hartline the previous Friday, the team focused in practice on working together as a team.

"We hit our free throws tonight and didn't turn the ball over much," he said. "The girls did an excellent job executing our plays. Everybody played a part in this win."

Schuh earned a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Deife scored 16 points and recorded three steals.

The win improved the Tigers' record to 7-5. Wilbur-Creston dropped to 6-2.

Odessa's next game will be Friday, Jan. 19 versus Valley Christian.

The boys played Wilbur-Creston tight in the first quarter, and at the end of it, led 10-9. Jacob Scrupps was hot from the outside, hitting two 3-point shots while Corbyn Neilson took care of business inside, scoring four points.

Zach Claassen pulled down five rebounds in the quarter.

In the second quarter, Scrupps scored 10 points, but that was not enough to counter Wilbur-Creston's balanced attack that propelled them to a 30-24 halftime lead.

As Tigers' turnovers piled up in the second half, the Wildcats pulled away. They outscored Odessa 36-20 in the half enroute to their 66-46 win.

After scoring 16 points in the first half, Scrupps scored only two points the rest of the game to give him a total of 18. Neilson finished with 15 points.

For Wilbur-Creston, Kallen Maioho and Eli Katich scored 21 and 17 points, respectively.

"Our turnovers created numerous possessions for them," Odessa head coach Mike Carlquist said. "Our poor vision passes turned into baskets. Turnovers have been an issue for us all year."

The loss dropped Odessa to 6-7. Wilbur-Creston improved to 9-3.

The Tigers next game will be versus Valley Christian Friday, Jan. 19.