The Carl Albert Lady Titans continue to progress after taking their home tournament over the weekend.
Carl Albert, ranked third in 5A, ran their win streak up to six adding three straight to take the Carl Albert Titan Classic with forward Jordan Gilbert taking Most Valuable Player honors.
Oddly enough, the tournament started off sluggish Thursday for the eventual champions against Star Spencer’s Lady Bobcats. SSHS had six turnovers but by the time Carl Albert Head Coach Tim Price called his second timeout, the Titan margin was slim.
Coach Price implored his team to wake up as a crowd of Titan students slowly filed in, but the message didn’t seek in immediately.
Even after slowly pulling starters throughout the first, the Titans still led 9-6.
“If I was depending on a bunch of freshmen and sophomores it would be a little bit different, but you got three seniors that are starting that can’t come out ready to play,” said Price of pulling his starters. “It was more of a statement than anything. Mentally, we just weren’t there.”
Coach Price reinserted most of his starters within a minute of the beginning of the second and the Lady Titans took off. Carl Albert went on an 11-2 run capped off by guard Shamika Smith hitting a 3-pointer and finding Gilbert on an easy layup.
After another big run to end the half, the Lady Titans found themselves up 32-18 at halftime and never looked back winning by a score of 56-34.
Gilbert led all scorers with 16 points and 5 rebounds with teammate Daesha Pearson dropping in 13 points and 11 rebounds. Smith had one of her better performances with 11 points, 2 assists 2 rebounds and 2 steals.
“[Smith] can be a difference maker even as small as she is. She’s so quick and can make a lot of things happen and get to the hole pretty well,” said Price of Smith’s night.
Carl Albert didn’t rest on their win. They had a film session that night to get prepared for a formidable and tall Millwood Lady Falcons squad.
Day Two
The Lady Titans’ Thursday preparation paid off Friday against the No. 1 team in 2A. Carl Albert jumped all over Millwood with a 7-0 lead to start while forcing 2 turnovers and 0-2 shooting.
The Carl Albert defense would continue to be the story of this game. A great defensive game plan by Coach Price highlighted by better defensive execution, cut off the access to the paint and the free throw line Millwood had enjoyed the night before against Del City by going with a 2-3 zone.
“Their lineups are always big so a lot of it is we just don’t think they can't score from the perimeter as well,” said Price of the decision to go with the zone. “A lot of the reasoning is just rebounding purposes. It’s worked in the past. There’s no reason to change and thankfully it still worked tonight.”
Millwood shot just 4 free throws the entire half. Millwood star forward Raven Prince, who had 30 points and 16 rebounds against Del City, combined with forwards DeRae Lewis and Deztinee Gooden to go 0-6 with 0 free throws.
Timely 3-point shooting from Millwood combined with poor shooting from Carl Albert, kept the Lady Falcons around in the first half. Carl Albert shot 4-18 overall but maintained 19-13 advantage at halftime.
Carl Albert continued its defensive game plan in the second keeping Millwood off balance with its 2-3 zone.
The Lady Titans never quite pulled away but late in the fourth quarter managed to kill the clock by taking 3 whole minutes off with ball movement to end any chance of a late Millwood rally.
The Lady Titans grinded their way into the finals with a 39-31 victory over Millwood.
“I thought we played as aggressive and smart of a zone as we have all year in the first half,” said Price. “When they did shoot it, we had a hand up but we rebounded by committee basically.”
Committee rebounding worked as they out-rebounded Millwood 27-25, a stat Coach Price was shocked to hear.
“I told them we don’t necessarily have to win the rebounding battle, but we got to at least hold our own,” said Price.
Gilbert again led all scorers for the second straight night with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Carl Albert’s defensive execution finished the job on Prince holding her to single point and rebound.
Day Three
Defense would again highlight the effort in the Titan Classic title game Saturday against 6A’s No. 8 ranked Bartlesville Lady Bruins, who had a particular weapon in long range threat 6’3” forward Hailey Tucker.
Gilbert would get the call early to guard Tucker when Carl Albert came out in man defense, but early foul trouble forced them back into their 2-3 zone look from the night before.
Tucker was held in check but the Lady Bruins still managed a one-point lead after an even first quarter.
Carl Albert continued switching up its defenses in the second switching between zone and man adding in a 1-2-2 zone press from time to time. Gilbert and
Pearson continued hounding Tucker while in man.
Carl Albert would pull away in the third thanks in large part to freshman guard Charissa Price stepping up. She added 8 points including an off balance 3-pointer at the buzzer to help the Lady Titans take a 37-27 lead into the fourth. Price scored 16 points with 2 rebounds on the night.
Tucker continued to struggle ending her night with 12 points. She managed to hit a couple of triples in the fourth but it was too little too late as Carl Albert won the Titan Classic with a final score of 49-40.
Gilbert took home the MVP trophy after averaging 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds on the weekend.
Pearson and Hallmark took home all-tournament selections after rough scoring weekends due in large part to their great defense and timely shot making.
