The Wellston Lady Tigers made the most of their first trip to the state tournament in 37 years.
They kicked off the Class A state tournament with a 9 a.m. game on Wednesday against the defending stare champions, led for more than half the game and took it down to the wire before falling 4237.
“I’m super proud of these girls,” said coach Chad Hutchison. “They’ve come a long way.
“Cyril is a gritty hardnosed team that eliminated us last year and won the state championship.”
Wellston hadn’t been to the state tournament since 1989, when girls basketball in Oklahoma was still a 6-on-6 game.
They’ve made steady improvement under Hutchison, who took over the program four years ago.
They went from 12-14 his first year to 16-12 the next year to a 26-4 record and making the area tournament last season.
This season, they finished 29-3 and qualified for state the hard way, fighting through the consolation bracket after losing to Ripley in the first round of regionals.
“This was a huge step for us,” Hutchsion said. “Overall, we’re still pretty young.
“I think we gained a lot of experience. I hope this is a stepping stone for us and hope we’ll be back next year.”
The Lady Tigers - had only one senior - Alexis Fowble - and Hutchsion was effusive in his praise of her impact on the team.
“She’s a tremendous leader, a great example,” he said. “She’s a vocal leader and she does whatever you ask of her.
“I’m proud and every appreciate of her.”
Against Cyril, Wellston led or was tied the entire first half, and Cyril didn’t take its first lead until Kenzie Raasch hit a layup early in the third period to make the score 21-20.
The Lady Pirates pushed out to a five-point lead early in the fourth period, but Wellston sandwiched buckets by Savanah Gaylord around a field goal by Maddie Allen to make it 33-31 with 5:16 left to play.
Wellston took a 37-35 lead when Allen stole the ball and laid in a basket with 2:16 left, but that turned out to be the high water mark for the WLTs.
Cyril scored the final seven points of the game, sealing the win.