Soon after the Guthrie Lady Jays captured their first lead they never looked back in their first round, do-or-die, regional playoff game with Northwest Classen.
The eighth seeded Lady Jays got an early boost from Gracynn Smith and a steady performance from Ashley Shields to down the ninth seeded Lady Knights 46-31 at the McGuinness Regional.
Guthrie will now play for the regional championship, Saturday afternoon at 1:30, against the No. 1 seed and regional host McGuinness. The Lady Irish had an easy win over Noble in game two of the regional. Both, Guthrie and McGuinness, automatically qualify for next week’s area tournament and now must be beaten twice from this point to be eliminated.
Northwest Classen earned leads of 2-0 and 4-2, but Smith’s two field goals and free throw gave Guthrie the lead for good from the 6:13 mark of the first quarter. Guthrie grew their lead as big as six points in the first quarter before settling for a 13-10 advantage after the first eight minutes.
In the second quarter, Guthrie expanded their lead up to 10 points, 23-13, with 3:25 to play, but the Knights finished the half with a 7-3 run to trail by just 6-points at the half, 26-20.
Shields paced the Lady Jays with a game high 15 points and was named the Farmers and Merchants Bank Player of the Game.
Northwest struggled shooting the ball from the field the entire night and managed just 11 second half points against the Lady Jays, who have held their last four opponents to an average 23 points a game. Guthrie improves to 13-9 this season and is 5-2 in the month of February.
The eighth seeded Lady Jays got an early boost from Gracynn Smith and a steady performance from Ashley Shields to down the ninth seeded Lady Knights 46-31 at the McGuinness Regional.
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