MULDROW — It was a one-point game at halftime between Roland and Sallisaw's girls.
The second half, however, was all Lady Rangers.
Roland began the half by scoring 16 straight points and held the Lady Diamonds to nine points over the final two quarters as the Lady Rangers prevailed, 53-27, in Thursday's Armstrong Bank Sequoyah County Area Classic semifinal.
The Lady Rangers had been up by one at the break, 19-18.
"I felt like the first half offensively, we did a really poor job of executing what we were trying to get done," Roland coach Greg Pratt said. "People weren't in the right spots, we weren't getting the ball to where it needed to be, we weren't very coachable in the first half, and I thought Sallisaw played a lot more harder and a lot more aggressive than we did.
"We were fortunate to be up at half, that's the way I felt."
The Lady Rangers (8-2) got the boost they needed when they began the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Destany Cain and Kaitlyn Martinez. Martinez then hit another 3 and Cassidy Floyd also made several baskets as Roland finished off its 16-0 run to extend its lead to 17 points, 35-18, with two minutes left in the third.
"As far as making any changes (at halftime), I really didn't make any changes," Pratt said. "I told them to get to where they were supposed to be and when they're supposed to be there off of our fast-break stuff. People were not where they were supposed to be and it looked unorganized and consequently, we didn't know what to do with the ball once we got it in those positions.
"We started doing a better job of that and we also quit turning the ball over as much."
Roland kept building its lead. Makya Perryman beat the third-quarter buzzer with a 3; then Kristin McKinney began the fourth with a 3 of her own as the lead grew to 20 points, 41-21. The Lady Rangers led by as many as 28 points in the final quarter.
Floyd, a senior frontcourt player, ended up with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds despite fighting illness.
"I thought Cassidy Floyd, especially being sick as she is right now, I thought she had a really, really good game," Pratt said. "She was a big factor for us inside scoring and rebounding. Without her, we might have been in trouble because we've got a little bit of an injury bug right now."
Martinez added 14 points and made three 3's for Roland, which will play defending SCAC champion Muldrow at 6:30 p.m. Saturday for the county title.
Sallisaw (3-6) got six points each from Taite Stites, Kami Riggs and Cadence Beach.
Muldrow 67, Central 43
GIRLS — For one half, the Central Lady Tigers made things interesting against the top seed and defending SCAC champion Lady Bulldogs.
Muldrow then proceeded to take control of Thursday's semifinal with a 12-0 run to start the second half. Taylen Collins made several baskets in that stretch, and teammate Hannah Boyett finished things off with a layup in transition as Muldrow (10-1) built a 46-28 lead after being up by six at halftime.
Collins finished the game with 25 points, 12 of those coming in the third quarter. She also had seven rebounds and three assists. Boyett added 12 points and hit two 3's while recording five assists and five steals. Alicia McCloria was in double figures as well for the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points.
Courtney Lee scored 16 points, and Crystal Ortiz added 10 for the Lady Tigers (5-3).