LUNN-DERFUL! Senior guard sparks BHS Lady Bruins into finals Saturday; Bruins will play for boys title
Bartlesville High School’s Alayah Lunn (4) waits at the free throw line during the Lady Bruins win over Carl Albert in the semifinals of the ConocoPhillips/Arvest Basketball Invitational in Bartlesville on Jan. 10, 2025. Lunn, scored 22 points and made crucial free throws in the fourth quarter to help give the Lady Bruins a 53-49 victory. BHS plays for the championship on Saturday (Jan. 11) at 2: 30 p.m. against Broken Arrow. The Bruins boys are also in the championship hunt, taking on Southmoore at 4 p.m.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
(Note: Saturday’s tournament schedule is at the end of the article. Also, the game will be broadcast on KWON radio and KWONTV.com)
Scoring Bartlesville High School’s first two points and final two points — and 18 points in-between those — senior guard Alayah Lunn was a fierce force Friday night (Jan. 10) that made the difference between victory and defeat.
Lunn dropped in 22 points — followed closely by junior guard/forward Sami Sheaffer with 17 — to power the Lady Bruins past previously unbeaten Carl Albert, 53-49, in the girls semifinals of the ConocoPhillips/Arvest Basketball Invitational in Bartlesville.
With that win, Bartlesville — which is coached by Justyn Shaw — moves into Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. girls championship game against Broken Arrow.
At 4 p.m., Bartlesville High also will compete in the boys title contest as the Bruins take on Southmoore. The Bruins received a bye in Friday’s scheduled semifinal game.
Conversely, the Lady Bruins advanced on a forfeit in Thursday’s slated opening round game.
Friday’s tip-off was their first since a disappointing 82-44 loss Tuesday (Jan. 7) at Broken Arrow.
The Carl Albert Lady Titans — who rolled into the game with a 9-0 record — felt the sting of Bartlesville’s vexation following Tuesday’s ordeal.
"I was pleased with our toughness and physicality," said Shaw about Friday's bounce-back performance. "I thought we did a good job of that."
The Lady Titans scored the game’s first two points — but then gave way to a quick-strike offensive assault by Bartlesville on a 7-1 run.
Bartlesville went on another surge at the end of the first quarter — scoring five quick points on a standard three-point play by Sheaffer and a deuce by Kenzie Denny — to double up Carl Albert, 14-7.
A trey by Emma Zimmerman midway through the second quarter stretched the lead to double-digits, 21-11. Sheaffer followed up with a three-pointer and Lunn netted two free throws to lift Bartlesville to a 15-point halftime lead, 28-13.
But Carl Albert wasn’t in a mood to throw in the towel — not by a long shot. And the Lady Titans made several of those down the stretch to make the final few seconds interesting.
More about that in a moment.
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Bartlesville High School’s Emma Zimmeran (5) tries to grab a rebound during action against Carl Albert at the ConocoPhillips/Arvest Basketball Invitational in Bartlesville on Jan. 10, 2025.. The Lady Bruins defeated Carl Albert, 53-49 in the semifinals and play for the championship at 2: 30 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 11) against Broken Arrow. The Bruins boys are also in the championship hunt, taking on Southmoore at 4 p.m.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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The Lady Titans opened the second half with a 4-0 spurt to get back within nine, 28-17. Bartlesville got back up by a double-digit lead but couldn’t pull away and led by 12 going into the fourth quarter, 40-28.
As it turned out, Bartlesville would need pretty much every one of those points by the end.
Carl Albert made a full-out rally in the final minutes to slice what once had been a 15-point Bartlesville lead down to two points, 51-49 — thanks to three straight three-pointers in crunch time. One of those treys was banked in from 32-feet out.
Had the Lady Bruins not been as mentally tough, perhaps that kind of a jaw-dropping shot would have distracted them enough to allow Carl Albert to win.
But, Bartlesville remained focused.
"We've been working on that, it's a process," Shaw said.
Bartlesville’s character prevailed at the end. In the final 1:20 Lunn dialed in 6-of-6 free throws, and Emma Zimmerman added 2-for-2 to repel the valiant Carl Albert rally. Lunn’s final two charity tosses — with less than 10 seconds left — sealed the triumph.
Zimmerman finished with 10 points to provide the Lady Bruins with three double-digit scorers. Lunn, Sheaffer and Zimmerman combined for 49 points.
Every Lady Bruin who stepped on the floor — including Kennedy Nubel, Adrianne Flick and Caydence Gray — contributed to the victory,
"Caydence rebounded well," Shaw said. "They were all great at diving on the floor and getting those 50-50 balls ... All of our girls played with physicality. ... I was pleased with us just sticking to our principles and staying disciplined."
The two keys for the Lady Bruins to play their best game is toughness and physicality, he added.
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SATURDAY’S TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Game 1 10:00am Millwood vs Carl Albert Girls
Game 2 11:30am Life Prep vs Del City Girls
Game 3 1:00pm Carl Albert vs Ponca City Boys
Game 4 2:30pm Bville vs Broken Arrow Girls
Game 5 4:00pm Bville vs Southmoore Boys