Lady Jays win tournament opener; tall task ahead

Despite not playing to the level that their coaches were looking for, the Guthrie Lady Jays won their first round game in the Duncan Tournament.

Guthrie controlled the score board the entire game en route to a 40-28 win over Class 4A’s Idabel Lady Warriors. The Lady Jays improve to 2-1 overall and will play Norman North in the second round. Norman North, as expected, routed Madill, 89-31, in the first game of the tournament.

With the win, the Lady Jays won their first round tournament game since December 6th, 2007. That win also came in the Duncan Tourney with a 55-46 win over Skiatook.

Mikaela Murillo scored a game high nine points and helped her team jump out to a 9-3 first quarter lead and a 17-9 halftime advantage. However, the Lady Jays left points off the board by going 12-26 (46%) from the free throw line.

“We came out flat and did not play with energy,” assistant coach Jeff Ball said. “We will need to play a lot better and be more consistent if we want to win tomorrow.”

Norman North jumped up in the rankings to No. 10 in Class 6A and have already won the Altus Tournament this season. In their last meeting, Norman North defeated Guthrie, 55-35, in last season’s Norman North tournament.