With two experienced seniors on the bench after fouling out, Piedmont’s Lady Wildcats let a 10-point lead disappear in the fourth quarter of the Class 5A Area Tournament championship against Shawnee Thursday night in Collett Field House.
And missed free throws helped Shawnee chip away at the Piedmont lead as ball-handling became a challenge in the final two minutes of the game under a Shawnee full-court press. Delanie Crawford and Maddy Lee fouled out.
But senior guard Kaelen Edwards sunk two free throws to pull away, and Jillian Crawford iced the cake with two more free throws as time ran out on Shawnee’s comeback bid. The Lady Wildcats won 50-47.
Coach Eric Carr was not surprised at finding the team in a tough battle to get to the state tournament.
“We played really well for three and a half quarters,” Carr said. “We didn’t make free throws in the fourth quarter like we needed to. Kaelen Edwards made huge free throws when we needed her to make the plays.”
“It is never easy this time of year, but they got it done and punched their ticket to state,” Carr said.
The Piedmont girls will play the state tournament semi-finals at Tulsa Memorial High School. The finals will be at Oral Roberts University.
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