Sallisaw splits Senior Night games with Westville after sweep by Stilwell

The last two home games of the 202324 high school basketball teams were rough ones for the Sallisaw squads as they went a combined 1-3, with the lone win coming in Monday’s Senior Night girls game as the Lady Diamonds beat the Westville Lady Yellowjackets 41-20 at Paul Post Field House, but the Black Diamonds lost 78-67 to the ’Jackets.

In Friday night’s home NOAA Conference finales, the Stilwell teams got a sweep as the Lady Indians beat the Lady Diamonds 57-35, then the Indians completed the sweep with a 56-42 victory over the Black Diamonds.

In the Senior night girls’ win over Westville, the Lady Diamonds (8-14) jumped out to an 11-3 lead at the end of the opening period thanks to quarter-ending, back-to-back baskets by Hannah Palmer.

A 3-point basket by Emma Martin with 55 seconds left before halftime put Sallisaw ahead 30-7. The Lady Diamonds took a 30-9 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Lady Diamonds had a 23-point lead on three occasions in the second half, the last time was at 4118 with 3:49 left to play on Martin’s basket.

“We shot the ball really well in the first half,” Sallisaw girls coach Eric Carr said. “We played really good defense. I thought we competed the whole game. We got a little slow in the second half, but we found a way to finish it off to give us a win going into the playoffs.”

For the game, Martin led Sallisaw with a game-high 10 points, followed by Palmer with nine points, Abby Kate Qualls — the Lady Diamonds’ lone senior — with eight points, Sydney Weedon with five points, Molly Carver with three points and Casey Brackett, Kayli Macon and Alayna Locust-Trammell with two points apiece.

In the Senior Night boys’ loss to Westville, a 3-pointer by Sallisaw’s Cooper Carter with 2:12 left in the first quarter put the Black Diamonds (9-13) up 13-12. It proved to be the last lead for Sallisaw.

The Yellowjackets got their lead to 21-15 with two seconds left in the period on Adam Singleterry’s basket.

However, Carter was fouled at the buzzer attempting a near-midcourt trey, and hit all three free throws to cut Westville’s lead to 21-18 entering the second quarter.

Sallisaw Black Diamond lone senior, Max Stump, hit a 3-pointer to open the second period to knot the game at 21-all with 7:33 left before halftime. However, the Black Diamonds would not regain the lead the remainder of the game.

Sallisaw cut the Westville lead to a single point at 2928 on a pair of Brodie Cameron free throws with 2:21 remaining in the first half, but the ’Jackets ended the half with a 7-4 run, capped by Brock Hammer’s basket with five seconds left before halftime, to put Westville ahead 36-32 at halftime.

The ’Jackets pretty much took control of the game in the early stages of the third quarter as they opened the period with a 12-0 run to put them ahead 48-32 with 4:32 left in the period.

A basket by Sallisaw’s Kase Adams with 41 seconds remaining in the quarter capped a 12-5 run to cut Westville’s advantage to 53-44, but that was as close as the Black Diamonds got on the night.

In defeat, the Black Diamonds put a quartet of players into double figures, led by Stump and Cooper Cox with 11 points each and Brodi Nickell and Wes Rodriguez each with 10 points. Cooper Jackson had nine points, followed by Adams and Carter with five points each and Cameron, Kenyan Hill and Elijah Hill with two points apiece.

In the girls’ loss to Stilwell, a basket by Macon put the Lady Diamonds ahead 4-2 with 5:32 left in the first quarter, and a Weedon basket with 2:05 remaining in the quarter gave Sallisaw its second lead of the contest at 7-6. Those would be only two leads for the Lady Diamonds (finishing their NOAA Conference season at 2-8) on the night.

The Lady Indians (18-4 overall, 10-0 in NOAA Conference play), who are coached by Sallisaw High School Class of 1986 graduate Terry Swinney, ended the quarter with a 5-1 run to take an 11-8 lead into the second period, in which Stilwell outscored Sallisaw 20-7 as the Lady Indians took a 31-15 lead at halftime.

The Lady Indians, who will meet the Lady Diamonds at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Class 4A District Tournament, built as much as a 27-point lead at 49-22 on a 3-point basket by Katelyn Wilson with 7:30 left in the game.

“I felt like we did have a good first quarter (against Stilwell),” Carr said. “They ran up their intensity, and we didn’t respond to it in the right way. We’ve worked on ways to attack them, but I think we got back to being a little bit panicked in the second quarter and gave them a lot of easy buckets that we can’t give up.”

In defeat, Macon led Sallisaw with nine points, followed by Weedon with eight points, Palmer and Locust-Tramell with six points each, Addy Orendorff with four points and Qualls with two points.

In the boys’ loss to Stilwell, the Indians (18-4, 8-2) led from wire-to-wire, but it was close early as Cox’s basket with 3:54 left in the opening period knotted the game at 4-all, which proved to be the final tie on the night as Stilwell took a 12-9 lead into the second quarter, which became a 29-18 halftime advantage.

However, a buzzer-beating trey by Jackson to end the third quarter cut the deficit for the Black Diamonds (finishing 3-7 in NOAA Conference play) to 47-38, but that was as close as the Black Diamonds got to the Indians — who will entertain the Black Diamonds at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Class 4A District Tournament.

“The problem we’ve had all year is we struggle playing at home,” Sallisaw boys coach Chadd Gehrke said. “We won two games at home. We struggle at home, and I think they (Stilwell) had a lot to do with that (Friday night). They killed us on the boards. They played like we always do, and we didn’t match that (intensity).

In defeat, Jackson scored 14 points and Rodriguez added 10 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Cox with eight points, Stump and Carter with three points each and Adams and Hill with two points apiece.

Sallisaw’s road games against Stigler that were snowed out on Martin Luther King Jr. Day will not be made up, since the squads could meet up in the Class 4A Regional Tournament.