By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
MUSTANG – Piedmont’s season has been pushed to the brink.
The Lady Wildcats’ late rally fell short Thursday evening in a 46-43 loss to El Reno in the Class 5A Area Tournament Championship game played at Mustang High School.
Piedmont now must beat Lawton Mac or Del City at Edmond North on Saturday in the Area Consolation Championship to qualify for the state tournament. That game is scheduled for 3 p.m. The Lady Indians (18-5) have clinched their spot in the field next week.
Senior Jillian Crawford led PHS with 16 points. Khloe Carr finished with nine points on a trio of 3-pointers. Her final make brought Piedmont (19-7) within one possession, 46-43, with one second to play, but the Lady ‘Cats didn’t have enough time to extend the game and lost to snap an 8-game winning streak.
“I told them in the locker room, that’s over. We’ve got to move on,” head coach Eric Carr said. “Our focus goes to whoever we play next. Neither team is real complicated as far as what they do. It’s just a matter of us being better offensively and being able to make some shots.”
The Lady Wildcats trailed 10-2 early in the first quarter but rallied for a 19-18 lead by halftime. In the third quarter, though, Piedmont missed its first five shots while El Reno connected on 3 of 5 to grab the momentum. PHS shot 6 of 28 in the second half.
“Everything we shot was contested. They came out and their intensity was good defensively,” Carr said. “They pressured us everywhere and we didn’t get a lot of good looks. You’ve got to be able to handle that and we didn’t tonight.”
With Piedmont unable to breakthrough offensively, the Indians extended their lead to as much as 11 points in the second half, but PHS put together a rally with under two minutes to play and, following a pair of free throws from Crawford, had cut the deficit to 40-35 with 1:10 remaining.
The Lady Wildcats appeared to have a steal on the ensuing inbounds play, but an El Reno player and a PHS defender collided near midcourt with the loose ball eventually making its way to El Reno’s Reagan Bugaj, who hit a layup while being fouled.
Emmary Elizondo led El Reno with 15 points. Piedmont got five points off the bench from freshman Destiny Duffy.
