MANNFORD — Last week was one small step for Mannford, one giant leap for the Lady Pirate basketball team as the Mannford girls won two and advanced their record to 9-4 and are now riding the momentum of a fourgame win streak. It was the kind of week that reminds a gym full of Lady Pirate fans why they love to cheer on their girls in purple on winter nights along the shores of Keystone Lake.
The leap started Tuesday, Jan. 13, with a comeback against Cleveland that doubled as a milestone night for junior forward Addison Pehrson — she played like a girl possessed Tuesday, and left a permanent mark on the program. The Mannford ladies trailed the Lady Tigers early and again late. They were locked at 24 at halftime then knotted again at 48 after three quarters before fi nally pulling free in the fourth for a 65–57 win.
Pehrson was relentless. She poured in 32 points to go with four assists and three rebounds and, framed in the bigger picture, she hit the 1,000-point mark for her high school career — a number that carries real weight in Oklahoma high school basketball — and she got to do it in front of a hometown crowd.
Every possession Tuesday seemed to orbit around Pehrson's confi dent playmaking, whether she was creating space for her own shot, or drawing defenders and kicking the ball to an open Lady Pirate.
Working in the trenches, Adley Elliott fl irted with a double-double, fi nishing with 10 points, nine rebounds and three steals, while Lexi Lovekamp was a force on the glass, earning a doubledouble with 12 rebounds to go with 10 points. Marin Chapman added fi ve points and three rebounds, and future homecoming royalty Emma McCrackin chipped in three points and three assists, Jayden Caruthers scored three, and Ashlyn Elliott contributed a point, three rebounds and three steals in a gritty, all-hands-on-deck e ort.
The Lady Pirate’s resolve showed most when it mattered. Down 10 at one point in the third quarter, the Head Coach Nathan Reed and his Lady Pirates refused to fl inch.
“This was a hard fought battle tonight, and we had to work for it until the very end,” Reed said. “I’m super proud of our girls and their grit and determination to never give up. We were down ten points at one stretch in the third, and never stopped having belief in one another and our ability. I could highlight every girl that stepped on the fl oor tonight and praise their e ort, but in particular, I want to congratulate Addison for reaching a monumental milestone. 1,000 points for her career! She is a great ball player but a better teammate.”
Tuesday was about resilience, Friday was about control.
Mannford hosted Cushing on Friday, and never let the outcome get even close to hanging in the balance. The Lady Pirates sailed to a 59–23 win over a Lady Tigers squad still searching for answers in a tough season. The Mannford ladies led 14–6 after one quarter, stretched it to 35–13 by halftime, and kept their lines tight and their sails right, riding the crest the rest of the way.
Pehrson stayed in full-throttle mode, fi nishing with 24 points, seven assists, fi ve rebounds and three steals, dictating the tempo on both ends of the fl oor.
The Elliott sisters were devastating.
Freshman Ashlyn Elliott delivered a hard scoring punch with 15 points and relentless defense, while junior Adley Elliott owned the paint at both poles with 13 rebounds. She added two points and three steals to fl esh out her stat line.
Chapman scored four points and grabbed six rebounds, Ella Maxville added four points and fi ve boards, Caruthers scored four, Lexi Lovekamp fi nished with two points and four rebounds, and Jalynn Roper added two points as Mannford spread the production thick as gravy on a Steer Inn chicken fried steak.
More than the fi nal score, this was how the Lady Pirates played — connected, vocal and unselfi sh.
"I feel like we fi nally put a more complete game together tonight, and the score showed,” Reed said. “We played together as one, communicated on defense, and kept our energy up throughout the ball game. Our activity on the defensive side of the ball and limiting our turnovers was huge tonight.
We had 17 assists as a team, which is a great measure of how unselfi sh we can be. It was a great team win.”
Two games, plus two very di erent scripts, plus two wins equals one clear message: Mannford is hitting its stride, Pehrson makes history, the Elliott sisters are a dangerous problem for opposing coaches, and the Lady Pirates are looking like a team nobody want’s to see on the schedule as February sneaks up.