McAlester girls basketball fell to Edmond Santa Fe in the consolation championship game of the Primus Moore Invitational Saturday.
The Lady Buffaloes (3-9) began the tournament with a 41-35 loss to the 11-ranked team in class 4A in Fort Gibson (6-5). They bounced back the next day against Midwest City JV, and won that game 53-39.
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The game began close against the Lady Wolves (4-7) but McAlester tied the game at 10-10 through one quarter. Edmond Santa Fe scored 17 to the Lady Buffaloes’ nine in the second quarter to take a 27-19 lead into the halftime break.
Scoring picked back up for McAlester in the third quarter. Kambree Zummer scored nine of the Lady Buffaloes’ 15 points in the third but the Lady Wolves scored 17 of their own, creating a 44-34 lead going into the final period of play.
The offense for McAlester went stagnant in the fourth quarter as it was only able to score three points. The Lady Buffaloes fell 56-37.
Rylan Lesnau led McAlester in scoring with 14 points. Zummer was second in scoring with 13 points.
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Coach Kourtnee Beshears said the loss came because things weren’t adding up on the court.
“I feel like things were not connecting, is the best way I feel like it went,” Beshears said. “We were almost there in so many things but it just didn’t connect.”
The Lady Wolves hit eight 3-pointers in the game. McAlester failed to close out on the shooters which led to the high volume of treys.
“We have a tendency of when we get tired, we don’t move while the ball is moving, we move once the ball is there,” Beshears said. “So we preach all the time in defensive drills, move while the ball has air time.”
The Lady Buffaloes have lost five of their last six games and Beshears said her team needs to up the ante moving forward.
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“We have to find another gear,” Beshears said. “I think that’s a lot of it is we’ve got to be able to flip that switch and just find the gear.”
McAlester plays again 6 p.m. Tuesday on the road at Tulsa Memorial.
