PURCELL — At halftime of Bethany’s matchup with Purcell Saturday (Jan. 25), Bethany coach Eric Sailer had a request for senior Kayten Donley.

Donley had been held to five points at intermission and the Lady Bronchos led 26-24.

“At halftime, I asked her to start looking to score,” Sailer said via text. “She was setting up too far out in the first half.”

Donley moved down low and Bethany won its third straight Heart of Oklahoma Basketball Tournament Championship with a 54-43 win.

The Oral Roberts signee finished with 20 points and 17 rebounds and after the game, she was named the tournament’s MVP.

Purcell (8-8) cut into Bethany’s 17-8 first quarter lead with a second quarter rally.

“In the second quarter, we allowed them to dictate the pace of the game,” Sailer said. “We struggled to slow them down and then allowed them to frustrate us offensively.

“Second half did a much better job of not getting flustered,” Sailer said.

The Lady Bronchos (12-4) outscored Purcell, 17-5 in the third quarter to take control of the game.

“It was a good game to learn from. We will spend some time watching film and hopefully learning from some of our mistakes,” Sailer said.

Sophomore Camryn Regier added nine points, 12 rebounds and three steals. She was named to the All-Tournament team.

Fellow sophomore Ali Linn added nine points and three rebounds despite dealing with early foul trouble. Her rebounds included a big one to “weather a Purcell storm,” Sailer said.

Junior Reese Harris had five points and also brought down 17 boards.

Senior Lauren Koonce came off the bench and had two big shots for five points, including a trey in the second quarter.

UP NEXT

The Lady Bronchos return to Western Athletic Conference play with a game on the road at Clinton Tuesday (Jan. 28) at 6:30 p.m.

The Lady Reds (2-16) fell to Class B Varnum, 57-49, in the seventh place game of the Cashion County Line Tournament Saturday.

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.

	1	2	3	4	F
Purcell (8-8)	8	16	5	14	43
Bethany (12-4)	17	9	17	11	54