The Thomas-Fay-Custer Lady Terriers basketball team went 1-1 this week in the West Central tournament and finished in third place in the tournament.
In the first round of the tournament, Thomas was supposed to play Calumet, but Calumet had to drop out of the tournament because of some COVID-19 protocols. As a result, Thomas automatically advanced to the semifinals and played Hydro-Eakly. They lost 56-32, but defeated Arapaho-Butler 51-32. Kyla Megli made the all-tournament team.
“We sure would have liked to be in the championship game, but we have to play better,” coach Jim Petree said. “We competed hard against Hydro and even though we beat Arapaho, they had some COVID-19 issues and we did not play well against them.”
Hydro-Eakly 56,
Thomas-Fay-Custer 32
The game was a tight one and neither team could really gain an advantage. Hydro-Eakly was ahead 13-10 and Macey Buss scored six of those 13 points in the first quarter.
“We came out ready to play and at times, we struggled to play well in the first quarter, but this time, we did not struggle,” Petree said. “We defended well and it was actually a competitive game, but the second quarter killed us as they outscored us 17-2.”
Hydro-Eakly opened the second quarter on a 17-0 run. Thomas scored its first points of the second quarter on a Katelyn Jones free throw with 2:55 left in the second quarter. The Lady Bobcats were ahead 30-12 at halftime.
Thomas would not go away with plays like Kyla Megli scoring a layup. The Lady Bobcats were ahead 45-23 going into the fourth quarter. Hydro-Eakly won the game 56-32. Tharp said everyone played well and seven girls scored points for the Lady Bobcats. Thomas battled back, but Hydro-Eakly was too much for the Terriers and Hydro-Eakly won the game 56-32.
“I thought our effort was really good,” Petree said. “We made too many mistakes because we got tired throughout the game. Hydro is a really good team and they forced us into lots of mistakes. We did do some good things, but Hydro is really good. They pressured us and forced us into lots of traps and they are just really good at what they do.”
Thomas-Fay-Custer 56,
Arapaho-Butler 32
Thomas built an early 9-3 lead to end the first quarter and they played very well defensively.
Megli scored a fast-break layup after stealing a pass to make the score 14-3 early in the first quarter. Thomas was ahead 19-3, before Arapaho-Butler went on a 7-0 run, making the score 19-10.
Each team scored 4 points before halftime and Thomas was ahead 23-14.
Thomas was ahead 36-26 at the end of the third quarter. Thomas opened the fourth quarter on a 13-4 run and won the game 51-32. Despite the win, Petree said his girls could have played better.
“I am proud of us for finishing in third place, but we did not play well at all,” Petree said. “We have to get back to work and get better. We did play good in spurts, but we were not focused and had too many let downs in the games.”
Thomas improves to 7-4 on the season and they played at Canton Monday and they played Fairview Tuesday night. They return to action, 6:30 p.m. Friday at home against Leedey.
“We have to execute better on both sides of the ball,” Petree said. “I think when our girls saw they had starters out, they thought it would be easy and we did not play to the best of our abilities.”