Booker T. Washington outlasts Lady Titans

By Michael Kinney
Midwest City Beacon

YUKON — Carl Albert showed up to the 5A semifinals in good spirits. According to coach Kyle Richey, they were laughing and playing games on the bus ride from CAHS to Yukon High.

That was when Richey knew his squad was ready to claim their spot in the championship game. Unfortunately for the Titans, they happened to meet up with a squad that was just as determined and led by one of the top players in the state.

Carl Albert fell 59-45 to Booker T. Washington Thursday at YHS. The win propelled the Hornets to the 5A championship game while the Titans saw their journey come to an end.

“They played their guts out. We lost to a good basketball team. That’s what the state semis are. It hurts. It hurts because you care,” Richey said. “I wish I could take all their pain away. I can’t, but I couldn’t be prouder of a group. There were a lot of doubters this year, a lot of doubters.”

The two teams got off to a sluggish start. At one point more fouls were being called than points being scored.
No one was affected more by this than the Titan’s Audrey Plunkett, who had three fouls in the first half.

Led by Marcayla Johnson, the Hornets led 27-20 at halftime. In the third quarter, Johnson picked up her aggressiveness on both ends of the floor and transformed into a difference maker Carl Albert didn’t have an answer for.

Plunkett picked up her fourth foul with 4:21 left in the third quarter and had to be taken out of the game.

But with the Hornets leading 38-27 and the contest getting away, Plunkett returned with 2:16 left. That was not enough to stem the tide as BTW took a 47-30 advantage into the fourth quarter.

Plunkett fouled out at the 6:40 mark in the fourth after bumping into Johnson on a rebound attempt. A little over a minute later the Lady Titans trailed by 20 points, which was the largest deficit of the game.

However, Jordyn Richardson spearheaded a furious comeback for Carl Albert. The freshman attacked the basket and either scored or picked up fouls.

Carl Albert got to within 12 points with a minute left. But they were all out of magic and time as the Hornets ran the clock down to close out the game.

Richey was still proud of the way his team didn’t give in and continued to fight even as it looked like the game was out of control.

“We don’t quit,” Richey said. “They said, ‘coach, if we’re going down, we’re going down fighting.’ There’s nothing else today. And they proved it.”

Johnson led all scorers with 18 points. The Baylor commit also hauled in 11 rebounds and three assists. Kashae Brown added 8 points and 9 boards.

Jakary Brown paced Carl Albert with 14 points while Richardson chipped in with 12 points and five rebounds. Plunkett scored 7 before fouling out.

Carl Albert ends their season with a 21-9 record. But Richey says the year they have been through can’t be contained to just their record.

“The memories, the laughs. I told them in there that they were playing games on the way up here. That means they’re loose,” said a tearful Richey. “There’s only one team that finishes the year on a win. Okay. But that does not mean this is disappointing. Twenty eight wins, two academic state champs, state semifinal. Everybody wants to cut down the net. I get it. But I’m not going to use the word disappointment at all. Sad? Yes. Hurt? Yes. So what they’re going to do, they’re going to walk out of here as a team. They bought into the ‘We over me.’ It just wasn’t our game tonight.”