Players to watch
Temira Poindexter, Sapulpa: Scored 22 points in a 59-52 win over Mustang in the final of the Skiatook Invitational and was named tournament MVP. Also scored 21 against Pryor in the semifinals and totaled 71 points in four games.
Ray Osborn, Sapulpa: Scored 20 against Mustang in the Skiatook final, 15 in the semifinals and joined Poindexter on the all-tournament team. Totaled 55 points in four games.
Hallie Reed and Lizzie Shephard, Vinita: Reed, playing her best basketball since returning from a stress fracture in her lower leg, made six 3-pointers in each of the Hornets’ first two wins in the Oologah Tournament. Shephard scored 20 in a 51-30 win over Bishop Kelley and averages 17.9 points.
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Journey Armstead, Sand Springs: Scored 15 of her career-high 31 in the third quarter and had seven rebounds as the Sandites rallied past Jenks 56-46. Hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter, including a buzzer shot off the glass that she flung in one-handed while falling.
Tyia Treleaven, Holland Hall: Playing with an ankle sprain from the day before, hit a tying 3-pointer with 45 seconds left and scored all 17 of her points in the second half as the Dutch eased past OKC Millwood 65-64 in the final of the Bethany Invitational. Also had a game-high 15 in a semifinal win over Tahlequah.
Kelly Ellis, Collinsville: Went 7-for-9 from 3-point range and scored a career-high 25 points, helping her team rally to upset 5A No. 4 Ardmore 61-56 in the first round of the East Central Oklahoma Classic in Ada.
Hailey Grant, Claremore: Had 19 points and seven rebounds in a 47-39, first-round win over Cascia Hall in the Oologah Tournament. Went 3-for-4 from 3-point range and was 8-for-8 from the foul line, all in the fourth quarter.
Teams to watch
Muskogee (3-6): The Roughers totaled only three wins over the past two seasons, but former Cascia Hall coach Jeremy Ford has them organized and playing solid defense in his first year at the helm. Lonnesha Hill scored 18 in a 44-25 win over Owasso for fifth place in the Skiatook Invitational. Muskogee’s back-to-back wins in the tournament are its first since February 2017.
Fairland (11-1): The Owls are making noise with most of the same athletes from their state semifinal softball team. Erica Schertz scored a team-high 11 as the Owls nipped Wyandotte 31-29 for their 10th straight win. Grace Goins averages 10.8 points and Schertz and Kyndal Davis average 8.6 each. On Friday, Fairland visits Bluejacket in a battle of Lucky 7 Conference co-leaders.
Games to watch
Grove (7-1) at Pryor (5-5), Tuesday: Junior standout Rory Geer paces the Metro Lakes Conference-leading 4A No. 10 Ridgerunners.
Preston (6-10) at Beggs (4-5), Tuesday: The first of a possible three games between the Okmulgee County archrivals. Seven of the past 12 meetings have been decided by four points or less.
Ms. Inside/ Ms. Outside update
The 15 Ms. Inside and 15 Ms. Outside finalists will be announced soon. Coaches are encouraged to send nominations to Mike Brown at mike.brown@tulsaworld.com or at 918-581-8390.
News and Notes
Giddens enjoying time with the Eagles
Summit Christian superintendent Dan Giddens said he’s having a ball coaching the school’s girls basketball team for two reasons.
“One, I don’t have to worry about establishing anything for the future because this is definitely a one-year stint,” he said with a chuckle.
“And two, I’ve gotten to know these kids because I coached ‘em in elementary school and I know their parents. It’s pretty cut and dried who should be playing, so there’s no difficulty there.”
Giddens coached Edison and Webster boys for a combined 11 seasons and is in his 13th year as Summit’s head administrator. Superintendents in small schools often wear many hats. When the Eagles were left without a coach in 2019-20, Giddens agreed to take the program for a year.
“It’s always a gamble when you hire a new head coach and I didn’t want to risk having a bad experience with these kids and parents,” he said.
The Eagles (6-5) celebrated Saturday with a 47-45 win over host Regent Prep to win the Rams’ invitational tournament for the first time in seven years.
Giddens’ daughter, Hanna, played on that 2012 championship team and is now a Jenks ninth-grade coach. Now, Giddens’ youngest daughter, Clara, is one of four senior starters, along with Kennedy Langbartels, Ashley Fritch and Gracie Murray.
Aidan Falcon, the only junior starter, scored a game-high 15 against Regent. Fritch, Langbartels and Mercy Solomon combined for the winning points in a 33-31 semifinal win over Sperry’s Pirates.
Sperry had the ball with 10 seconds left in a tie game, but Fritch stole it and passed ahead to Solomon, who sent it to Langbartels for the winning layup.
Spartans’ youth movement
Bixby’s freshman-laden starting lineup is growing up quickly.
The Spartans (6-6) lost in overtime to eventual champion Putnam West in the first round of the Putnam City Invitational and routed the OKC Storm and host Putnam City to bring home the fifth-place trophy.
Five of the Spartans’ six losses are to 6A ranked teams and the sixth is to 5A No. 1 Piedmont. They split a pair of games with No. 5 Edmond North, lost to Union 43-41 and took No. 8 Sapulpa to overtime.
Junior guard Kate Bradley is joined in the starting lineup by freshmen Gracy Wernli, Alyssa Nielsen, Gentry Baldwin and Meredith Mayes.
Coach Tina Thompson said the freshmen are “a unique group. They’re highly motivated. They all envision themselves going a long way in basketball.”
Bixby is at home to Broken Arrow on Tuesday.
Incidentally
Fort Gibson held Coweta to five field goals and won 60-28 to defend its title in the Muskogee Bedouin Shrine Classic. In the semifinals, Linda Brice scored 16 as Coweta gave East Central its first defeat in stunning fashion, 62-33. …
Broken Arrow trailed by 14 at Bartlesville before rallying for a 59-48 triumph behind Taleyah Jones’ 21 points. … Liberty’s Jennika Boone scored 28 points in a 54-41 win over Drumright. … Metro Christian’s Cayden Mershon scored 23 in a 61-47 win over Rejoice Christian.
Girls rankings
OSSAARankings.com coaches poll for Jan. 13. First-place votes in parentheses with record as of Jan. 11.
Class 6A
1. Booker T. Washington (21) 10-0, 567. 2. Deer Creek (7) 9-2, 540. 3. Choctaw (1) 9-0, 517. 4. Norman (1) 9-1, 502. 5. Edmond North (1) 10-2, 470. 6. Moore 7-3, 428. 7. Union 8-2, 426. 8. Sapulpa 8-2, 416. 9. Norman North 8-3, 333. 10. Sand Springs 9-2, 319. 11. Edmond Memorial 7-4, 297. 12. Midwest City 7-3, 275. 13. Mustang 8-6, 231. 14. Bixby 6-6, 228. 15. Ponca City 9-3, 193.
Class 5A
1. Piedmont (16) 8-2, 561. 2. Will Rogers (6) 8-2, 529. 3. East Central (7) 9-1, 515. 4. Ardmore (2) 10-3, 479. 5. Carl Albert 8-3, 464. 6. Lawton Ike 8-2, 441. 7. Tahlequah 7-3, 368. 8. El Reno 6-5, 366. 9. Del City 5-4, 325. 10. Lawton Mac 5-5, 325. 11. McAlester 6-4, 322. 12. Coweta 5-8, 270. 13. Shawnee 6-4, 259. 14. Pryor 5-5, 236. 15. Guthrie 5-4, 185.
Class 4A
1. Anadarko (42) 10-1, 1010. 2. Classen SAS (11) 13-2. 3. Fort Gibson 8-1, 859. 4. Newcastle 7-4, 797. 5. Muldrow (1) 10-3, 765. 6. Victory Christian 6-3, 761. 7, Vinita 9-1, 694. 8. Weatherford (1). 9, Verdigris 10-3, 613. 10. Grove 7-1, 506.
Class 3A
1. Sequoyah Tahlequah (50) 11-1, 980. 2. Jones (1) 9-1, 887. 3. OKC Millwood (1) 10-2, 828. 4. Adair 7-4, 771. 5. Roland 9-1, 751. 6. Alva (1) 13-0, 748. 7. Christian Heritage Hall 6-3, 711. 8. Kellyville 8-2, 640. 9. Comanche 8-2, 601. 10. Eufaula 7-1, 574.
Class 2A
1. Vanoss (73) 12-1, 1,516. 2. Silo 12-1, 1,330. 3. Latta (2) 12-2, 1,311. 4. Howe (2) 12-3, 1,236. 5. Dale 8-4, 1,235. 6. Hartshorne 8-3, 1,108. 7. Caddo (3) 12-0, 1,044. 8. Amber-Pocasset 13-2, 979. 9. Oklahoma Union 10-1, 898. 10, Stratford 11-1, 794.
Class A
1. Hydro-Eakly (61) 15-1, 1,347. 2. Canute (2) 17-3, 1,164. 3. Vici (3) 14-0, 1,122. 4. Calumet (1) 13-2, 1,081. 5. Okarche 15-1, 1,055. 6. Strother (3) 10-0, 975. 7. Kiowa (3) 13-3, 901. 8. Seiling 9-3, 747. 9. Cyril 11-1, 680. 10. Velma-Alma 12-0, 651.
Class B
1 Duke (25) 13-2, 974. 2. Lomega (25) 13-2, 960. 3. Whitesboro (3) 11-1, 849. 4. Boise City (3) 11-1, 849. 5. Leflore (2) 13-3, 800. 6. Leedey 12-4, 792. 7. Varnum 13-3, 743. 8. McCurtain 14-3, 673. 9. Balko 11-2, 539. 10. Battiest 14-3, 455.