THOMAS — The Hydro-Eakly Lady Bobcats won a tough road win Tuesday at Thomas-Fay-Custer, beating the Lady Terriers 43- 31.
“I felt like the girls played really well tonight,” coach Jeremy Tharp said. “We had to make some adjustments at halftime, because Thomas defended us well. I felt like we did not attack the basket enough in the first half. I had to go to my bench, because we got into some foul trouble and needed to mix things up.”
Hydro-Eakly pressed all game long. The game was low scoring and the Lady Bobcats did not allow a point until a minute and a half left in the first quarter. Hydro-Eakly had a 9-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, with Rees Berkey scoring six of these nine points.
Hydro-Eakly’s Lotti Parker suffered an injury in the first quarter and Tharp said she could be out 2-3 weeks. Parker did score a 3- pointer for Hydro-Eakly in the first quarter.
The Lady Bobcats nearly doubled their point total, scoring 17 points and built a 26-13 lead at halftime.
Thomas-Fay-Custer outscored Hydro-Eakly 7-3 to open the second half and cut the lead to single digits in a span of three minutes. The Lady Bobcats struggled to score, only scoring five points.
Thomas-Fay-Custer outscored the Lady Bobcats 11-5 in the third quarter and trailed 31-25 going into the fourth quarter.
Hydro-Eakly took a double-digit lead when Kenzie Rodriquez grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw, was fouled and made the shot. She made the free throw, making the score 37-26 with five and a half minutes to play. Rodriquez also forced a turnover with a minute and a half left in the game, when the score was 43-31.
“Kenzie is priceless on and off the court,” Tharp said. “I told her how we need rebounds from her tonight and she delivered. Rebounding is not her strong suit, but she got the job done and made great plays which helped us win. I tell her this all the time, but I really am going to miss her next season, because of her attitude and she does anything we ask her to do.”
Hydro-Eakly went on to win the game 43-31. This was the first time Hydro-Eakly has been held to less than 50 points in a game all season long and the closest margin of victory, but Tharp said Thomas-Fay-Custer had a great game plan and Hydro-Eakly had to play smarter.
“Well, we simply got smarter in the fourth quarter,” Tharp said. “We took much better shots and in the third quarter, Thomas-Fay-Custer rotated really well, so we had to be smarter. Thomas did such a good job making us uncomfortable and taking us out of our game. We quit fouling in the fourth quarter, which in turn helped us not give them points off of free throws.”
Rees Berkey scored 14 points and Kira Berkey scored 10 points. Hydro-Eakly improves to 21-0 on the season and will play 5:30 p.m. Saturday against Lookeba-Sickles in the Canadian Valley Conference Championship game. The game will be played at SWOSU. Hydro-Eakly Lookeba-Sickles earlier this season 60-33.
“We have to be us and play our game,” Tharp said. “Thomas-Fay-Custer did a great job making us uncomfortable and taking us out of our style of game. We have to sharpen up and play a full game, because this is when we play our best, when we are comfortable playing our game.”