Three for all: Jones girls claim third consecutive 3A state championship, withstanding Washington, 39-33
By Glen Brockenbush | Photos/Video by George Mitchell
OKLAHOMA CITY - Maybe it’s hard work, maybe it’s teamwork, maybe it’s a lucky blazer.
Whatever it is, it’s created a dynasty.
The Jones girls overcame a shaky start on Saturday to defeat Washington, 39-33, to win the Class 3A girls state championship, the Lady Longhorns’ third title in a row. But after dominating their past two title game appearances, the Lady Longhorns had to fight for this one.
“We’ve had adversity all year long,” Jones coach Jenni Holbrook said. “It didn’t come easy, or as easy as it has in the past few years.”
As much as it was a relief to be done with all the pressure of the expectations, Holbrook was relieved for another reason.
She had worn a green blazer in eight games this season. The Lady Longhorns were undefeated in those games. Seemingly bringing Holbrook good luck, the blazer remained unwashed during that time, so as to not get rid of the good mojo.
On Saturday, Holbrook and her jacket kept that clean record, even if the blazer itself didn’t feel so clean.
“It is time to take it to the cleaners. It’s been a while,” Holbrook said. “But, hey, this blazer is 9-0.
"It’s gonna keep going, it’s going to be a real ride, but hopefully it stays lucky for us.”
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The two teams were nearly impossible to separate in the first quarter. Both teams played tight defense, forcing the offenses to be patient.
Washington locked down on Sofi Woodson, preventing Jones from getting the ball into her for much of the first half. She only had three shots and missed all three.
“In our dribble-drive offense, (it’s about) getting into the paint, drawing in the defense and getting to kick,” Holbrook said. "(Washington) took us out of a lot of our sets; credit to Washington, they took away a lot things we like to do.”
Washington suffered a hard blow late in the first quarter when Kelby Beller, the player who had made their game-winner in the semifinal against Kiefer, went down with an apparent knee injury. She was helped off the court and to the locker room; and never returned to the game.
Kyndall Wells also had to come off the floor for the Warriors with a nose bleed, but she returned not long after.
Zoe Tucker gave the Lady Longhorns a brief lead with a steal-plus-basket before the Lady Warriors got a 3-pointer to retake the lead. The teams stayed with a basket of one another before a late basket by Kasia Hansen gave the Lady Longhorns a 21-17 halftime lead.
Tucker led all scorers with 10 points in the first half.
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Jones got an early basket from Woodson, and then a 3-pointer from Jaelen Maples. Some free throws and a sparkling pass from Boston Berry to Woodson that led to a bucket capped an 8-0 run to start the second half for Jones.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Rielyn Scheffe and Preslee Johnson cut the deficit to just two in the late stages of the third quarter, before a put-back from Woodson gave Jones another four-point lead to end the quarter.
The second half proved to be a resurgence for Woodson, who scored all nine of her points and secured nine of her 13 rebounds after halftime.
“We had to pull (the ball) out a little bit, create room to get into the paint and I though Kasia Hansen did a really good job of that,” Holbrook said. “It wasn’t pretty, but they found a way.”
The final quarter remained scoreless for nearly three minutes before a crucial 3-ball from Maples extended Jones’ lead to seven. Up by just three, Jones got another slick pass to Woodson for a basket to put the Lady Horns up five with three minutes left.
But the Lady Warriors cut the lead to three and had a look at a 3-pointer, but it was off.
Hansen went to the line with 42.6 seconds left and sank two free throws. From there, all that was left to do was get the reserves in the game for the final seconds, and enjoy the celebration.
“I’m just so proud of this team and these girls,” Holbrook said. “They just kept fighting and never gave up.
"They just found a way and I’m so proud of that.”
Tucker finished with 10 points, while Hansen had nine. Washington got 16 from Scheffe.
