By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor – Yukon was looking to take a win streak into the holiday break.
The Millerettes hit a hiccup along the way, but are still taking a positive outlook into the second half of the season.
No. 16 ranked Yukon came up on the short end to No. 7 Edmond Memorial, 53-46, in the final game before the holiday break.
The loss snapped a four-game win streak by the Millerettes, but despite the loss, head coach Roy Wyckoff has a good feeling about his team and their chances in the 2018 portion of the season and making a run at a state tournament.
The Millerettes kept the game close with Memorial until the final minutes when the Lady Bulldogs hit some key shots that put the game out of reach.
“I felt like we had a chance to put them away, but instead of doing that we kind of gave it back to them,” Wyckoff said. “But, they also had a lot to do with that. They are a one of the best teams in the state, are ranked No. 7 in the state and will probably move into the top five I would think. They are good, I am not taking anything away from them, they made plays. I felt like if we would have made one or two plays right there, we potentially had the ability to put them away, but we didn’t do it. So credit to them.
“Also, that is a maturity issue for our girls,” he said. “We have to learn when we have someone down to put them away. We didn’t do that, so that was disappointing.
“I am not disappointed with the effort, just disappointed with the immaturity and the choice of decisions down the stretch when we had a chance to put them away. But, that comes with the fact that we are not really young, just new season, new expectations and a new style. We just got a little loose with the ball.”
The game was tied 33-33 early in the fourth quarter and the Millerettes rushed up a pair of shots, Memorial countered with a 5-0 run and took a 38-33 lead. A pair of Becka Cammon free throws cut the lead to three, but again Memorial countered with a run and a 42-35 lead.
Trailing by seven, the Millerettes used a three-point play from Kristen Readel, then got a trey from Meya Case to come within one, 44-43 with 2:58 remaining.
Memorial went back up by five, 48-43 and the Millerettes could only get within four late in the game.
“We started pressing a little too hard late in the game,” Wyckoff said. “Memorial does a good job, all of their games are low scoring and they make you work for everything. When you are playing from behind it is hard to get buckets in a hurry. They close down a lot of driving lanes and play good defensively It is hard to get buckets in a hurry, so that is 100 percent credit to them.
The Millerettes did lead most of the half in a low scoring affair. A Case field goal opened a 7-3 lead and shots from Readel and Cammon opened an 11-5 lead with 1:09 remaining.
Memorial went on a 6-0 run to tie the game 11-11, then took a 15-13 lead. A Basler trey and a field goal from Readel put the Millers back in front, 18-15.
Memorial hit free throws late in the half to take a 21-20 lead.
“I wasn’t too terribly disappointed with the first half although we didn’t score many points,” Wyckoff said. “I thought the pace was good. We didn’t hit shots. We took pretty good shots, got the pace going up the down the floor. It didn’t look like it because we didn’t score many points, but I thought it was good.
“I felt the start of the third quarter that was how I wanted it to look. We were running and bouncing around and hitting some shots and then got in a little bit of foul trouble and made three or four turnovers in a row when we had then down eight or nine and let them get back in the game and it was tied at the end of the third quarter.
“It is hard to put a team like that away and that is our next step to put a good team like that away,” he added. “We needed to play pressure, faster, attacking with a bounce. They are built to run off 30 seconds in a set then make you run 30 seconds off. They have good size, guards do a good job of taking care of the ball and containing the ball. They want to make you play so. We tried to make them play fast and we turned the ball over and that was part of it.”
Case led the Millerette scoring with 17, Cammon and Readel had 11 each and Basler four. The Millerettes did play without starter Jules Martin.
“We played next person up,” Wyckoff said. “Jules is one of our leaders. This team was very capable of winning, It would have helped to have her there.
“We have a big break and come back and do some skill work individual development, some speed work, concentrate on the individual and their body,” he said. “We will come back on the 27th have a scrimmage on Dec. 30 and then we have Deer Creek on Jan. 2.”
