GIRLS BASKETBALL: Pilkington punishes Tahlequah defensive focus as Claremore earns district win
· Yahoo Sports
Tahlequah came to Claremore determined to smother Asia Roper again, but no one was watching for Claire Pilkington.
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The 6-foot freshman slipped behind the Lady Tigers' face-guarding defense for a string of uncontested layups, scoring 8 of her game-high 14 points in the first quarter to spark the Lady Zebras' 47-40 District 5A-4 victory Monday at the Doug K. Mosier Athletic Complex.
“As a freshman, I feel like I get overlooked, so they don't really play me on defense as much,” Pilkington said. “And then when I start scoring, it just feels good when they have to make an adjustment to try to guard me.”
Claremore [13-8, 7-6 district] flipped the script from last month’s 45-35 road loss, when Tahlequah held Roper to 8 points by denying her touches.
This time, coach Lynn Roper leaned into the defensive attention on his daughter and directed the offense through Pilkington on the interior.
The adjustment paid immediate dividends.
“It started, ironically, with Tahlequah,” coach Roper said. “The first time we played them in January, they triangled into Asia and autumn, and we weren't prepared for it. We had talked about it, but we hadn’t really worked on it enough. And since then, I think every team has either face-guarded Asia or face-guarded Asia and Autumn, so it's just a matter of everybody's also going to have to pick up the slack. Against Memorial Friday night, they face-guarded both of them, and we just said, ‘If your man leaves, you go to the middle and go score.’ And that's what we did, and we beat them by 20. So the game plan is the other players are going to go get a lot of points, and who cares? We want to win.”
With the Lady Tigers [12-11, 7-6] slow to collapse on the paint, Pilkington scored on 4 early baskets around the rim, helping the Lady Zebras build a 15-9 first-quarter lead.
Alayna Eberley added perimeter spacing with a 3-pointer and midrange scoring, and suddenly the same scheme that once stalled Claremore was creating openings everywhere else.
“She's been that player that every year in like all her youth teams and middle school, she's the leading scorer,” coach Roper said of Eberley. “She had to shift her role a little bit to being more of a facilitator, learning from Grace [Waters], who's also a good game manager. But also pick your spots and still go score when you can, because she is a scorer first, and she's been kind of sacrificing that part of her game to just control the tempo a little bit, but be there when we do need it, and she's been the third-leading scorer most of the year by average.”
As the defense shifted inward to contain Pilkington, the floor opened for Asia Roper.
She didn’t attempt her first shot until late in the opening quarter — smiling as teammates carried the load — but finished with 12 points, including a pair of clinching free throws in the final seconds.
Eberley complemented the inside-out attack with 11 points and 6 rebounds, while Autumn Roper added 7 boards with 4 points as the Lady Zebras edged Tahlequah 28-22 on the glass.
“We've been working lot in practice on other people going and scoring to get the other people to guard them,” Asia Roper said. “I'm really happy that everybody's making their shots and getting stuff for themselves, too. Be a little bit selfish — you need to go score first then look at your teammates. I'm really glad that everybody got to touch the ball.
“As long as you're helping the team, it doesn't matter if it's points, rebounds, assists, whatever, so that's good,” she added about her sister’s contributions.
The Lady Tigers stayed within striking distance behind a second-half surge from Carsyn Gilbert, who scored all 14 of her points after halftime, including a late 3 that trimmed the margin to 5 in the fourth quarter.
However, each push was answered, and Pilkington’s final interior basket restored separation before Asia Roper iced the game at the line.
Lauren Stephens added 8 points — all from free throws — and 6 boards, and Raylee McCarter had 8 points and 5 rebounds for the Lady Tigers. Gilbert added 4 rebounds.
Claremore’s balanced approach ultimately delivered a steady offensive rhythm that punished overcommitment to one scorer and turned defensive attention into opportunity.
“The last few games, Claire's been getting a lot of dump-offs, but [Eberley] and Claire both have definitely picked up the slack,” coach Roper said, “and for freshmen, I’m very proud of them for the progress that they've made.”