By David Seeley
The Sequoyah County Times
VIAN — The Heavener High School basketball teams split their Black Diamond Conference road games with the Vian squads Thursday night at B.J. Traw Gymnasium.
The Lady Wolves began the night with a 66-40 rout of the host Lady Wolverines, but the Wolverines proved to be too much for the Wolves as Vian prevailed 65-38
Girls
Heavener 66, Vian 40
The Lady Wolves (6-7) led wire to wire after seeing the Lady Wolverines (0-7) trim a double-digit deficit to three points in their Jan. 3 meeting at the Heavener Gym.
After the Lady Wolverines cut their deficit to 4-2 on a basket by Kiah Richardson with 6:30 left in the first quarter, it was all Lady Wolves from there.
The Lady Wolves went on a 17-7 run, capped by a pair of Lainie Faulkenberry baskets with 1:20 left in the period, to give Heavener a 21-9 lead.
Vian’s Emry Smith scored the last four points of the quarter to cut Heavener’s advantage to 21-13 after a period.
Another Smith basket for Vian cut its deficit to 21-15 with 7:14 left before halftime. That would be as close as the Lady Wolverines would get on this night.
The Lady Wolves ended the first half on a 21-4 run to take a 42-19 halftime lead, which became a 60-28 advantage at the end of three quarters.
Heavener built as much as a 35-point lead in the fourth quarter as a 3-point basket by Zaidi May put the Lady Wolves ahead 63-28 with 7:02 left to play.
For the game, the Wolves put a quartet of players into double figures, led by a game-high 18 points by Jaiklyn Rogers, followed by Mia Billings with 14 points and Tori Hill and May with 11 points apiece. Faulkenberry and Taylee Baker each scored five points, while Anistyn Cartwright added two points.
Boys
Vian 65, Heavener 38
When the two teams met Jan. 3 in Heavener, the Wolves (4-9) almost were able to get a come-from-behind victory over the Wolverines (6-2), but that wasn’t the case Thursday night.
The Wolverines scored the game’s first six points en route to a 21-7 lead after a quarter.
The Wolves did cut their deficit to 13 points at 31-18 on a 3-point basket by Julian Sanchez with 2:25 left before halftime. That would be as close as Heavener got on this night as Vian took a 34-20 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.
After the Wolverines got their advantage to 55-31 after three quarters, they built as great as a 32-point lead on two occasions in the final period — with the last time coming with 4:46 left in the game as Vian’s Isaiah Owens scored a basket to put the Wolverines ahead 65-33.
Geren Palmer led Heavener with 11 points, followed by Julian Sanchez with eight points, Brandon Sanchez with seven points, Spencer Clubb with five points, Ben West with four points, Saul Silva with two points and Hayden McGee with a free throw.
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