January 2024

Helen Virginia (Green) Jones of El Reno passed from this life on Jan. 13, 2024. Helen was born Aug. 13, 1934, to C.G. and Lula Bernard (Tarpley) Green. She was one of four children.

Helen met the love of her life, James A. Jones, when she was 14 and he was 15. Upon his return from Korea, Helen married her Marine on Aug. 1, 1952, in Van Buren, Ark. They enjoyed starting out their life together in the married couples military housing at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, Calif., later moving to San Diego, Calif., after Jim was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps.

While the count toward becoming the school’s all-time leading rebounder has dwindled below 20, El Reno High School post player Pauline Black-Harmon showed last week not to overlook her scoring prowess.

The senior booked a season-high 30 points to lead the Indians to a 54-30 win over Guthrie in a key District 5A-1 battle. El Reno remains undefeated on the season at 12-0 with the 24-point win, but more importantly, atop the league standings at 6-0.

Jaylen Harper hit a 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds left as Guthrie remains tied for the lead in the District 5A-1 standings with a 66-63 win over El Reno High School’s boys basketball team.

The loss snapped a five-game win streak for the Indians, who fell to 9-3 overall.

The Indians slipped into sole possession of fourth place in the league standings at 3-3, a game back of Carl Albert (4-2) for third.

Fueled by seven placers, El Reno High School’s wrestling team took sixth place out of 21 squads at the 58th Annual Malcolm Wade Invitational.

El Reno scored 141 points but was edged out of the top five by Chickasha by two points. Elgin won the event with 275.5 points, followed by Carl Albert and Duncan each with 168 points. Del City was fourth with 163.5 points.

It was a near clean sweep for El Reno High School’s girls wrestling team last week at the 58th Annual Malcolm Wade Invitational as four of its first entries captured gold.

All five wrestlers placed, with Nylley Miller (105) taking fourth after a loss in the third-place match. She went 1-2 with a 2:25 fall against McAlester.

Brooklynn Huggins (110) posted falls against McAlester (2:36) and Durant (1:11) before scoring a 12-2 major decision over Claremore’s Kort Sansom in the finals.

Before Mother Nature played havoc with sports schedules across Oklahoma, two area basketball teams garnered mixed results over a four-game span.

Okarche High School’s girls basketball team split a pair of games to move to 8-7 on the season. The Warriors defeated Thomas/Fay-Custer (47-33) before dropping a 34-30 decision to Class A’s eighth-ranked Oklahoma Bible Academy.

After getting a 12-point wake up-call victory over Arapaho-Butler three days earlier, Calumet High School’s boys basketball team kicked off the famed West Central Tournament with a lopsided 102-30 blowout of Corn Bible Academy.

The 72-point victory lifted Calumet, ranked No.1 in Class B, to 18-0 on the season. The Chieftains have now won 38 regular-season games dating back to last season and the winning margin over the Crusaders was the largest of the season for CHS.

Redlands Community College women’s basketball team finds itself tied for fourth place in the NJCAA Region 2 standings after splitting the first two games of league action.

The Cougars squandered a 16-1 lead over Northeastern Oklahoma A&M but used a 30-27 scoring edge over the final two periods to secure a 57-50 win.

Redlands slipped to 11-4 on the season and 1-1 in Region 2 with a 72-63 setback to Eastern Oklahoma State College.

The Cougars are tied in the standings with Seminole State College and NEO.

Ijai Johnson led a quintet of players in double digits as Redlands Community College men’s basketball team picked up its first NJCAA Region 2 win of the season with a 96-93 decision over Eastern Oklahoma State College.

The victory came on the heels of a loss to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (93-67), with the split leaving Redlands with a 9-7 overall mark.

The Cougars are tied with Northern Oklahoma of Tonkawa for fifth.

The city of El Reno threw support to a plan proposed by the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes to build Fitness Courts, possibly in several areas of the community. The plan is aimed at creating spaces for people to gather for outdoor fitness activities.

The city council unanimously approved a resolution supporting the efforts at last week’s meeting.

The C&A proposal is in the study phase. The tribes are looking at locations in El Reno, Clinton and Geary for possible construction of the Fitness Courts.