Sports

Delayed months by COVID-19 precautions handed down by the National Junior College Athletic Association, Redlands Community College opened up the 2020-21 basketball season over the weekend inside a bubble.

College administration determined earlier this month no fans would be allowed inside the RCC gymnasium for January.

“It’s a different way to start the season. It’s a lot quieter and the energy is hard to keep up when you don’t have fans to cheer on your team. It’s up to the players to cheer and push themselves,” said RCC Athletic Director Eli Zucksworth.

When host Ardmore was hit with COVID-19 issues, the 2021 District 5A-4 Championships was eventually moved to El Reno and became a three-team race for a state berth.

After a first-round bye, El Reno High School’s wrestling team, ranked sixth in the state, knocked off 12th-ranked Carl Albert and No.8 Lawton MacArthur to punch a return ticket to the Class 5A Dual State Championships.

Playing one of the toughest schedules in Class 5A, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team avoided its second three-game losing streak of the season with a 72-45 win over Lawton Eisenhower in the seventh-place game of the Shawnee Invitational.

El Reno, ranked 13th in Class 5A, improved to 6-6 on the season.

The victory came on the heels of a setback to Class 6A’s 16th-ranked Broken Arrow (64-54) and Class 5A’s 20th-ranked Southeast (65-63).

Facing a lineup of three ranked teams, El Reno High School’s girls basketball team rallied from an opening-round loss to win the consolation title at the 2021 Shawnee Invitational.

El Reno, ranked seventh in Class 5A, improved to 8-4 on the season after a 59-40 win over Coweta in the consolation finals.

The win over the 10th-ranked (5A) Tigers came on the heels of a 41-31 victory over No.9 Shawnee (5A).

The Indians opened with a 43-36 setback to 5A’s fifth-ranked Ardmore.

Union City High School’s boys basketball team defeated Prue, Sasakwa and Mason to win the 2021 Paden Pirates Invitational over the weekend.

MIDWEST CITY – El Reno High School’s wrestling team faced an uphill battle from its opening-round matches in the 55th Malcolm Wade Invitational as nine of the 16 teams entered appear in the top 15 of the Class 5A poll. El Reno, one of those ranked teams at No.4, battled through the stacked brackets to place eight wrestlers en route to a fourth-place overall finish with 154 points.

Briana Stevenson gets a boost into the air from teammates, from left, Krystiana Guzman, Samyra Hunter and Analexis Lozano during a stunt at a recent El Reno High School basketball game. EHS cheerleaders and pep band have been practicing social distancing and wearing masks during home games this season.

Jumping back into the win column, El Reno High School’s girls basketball team got the first win on its current six-game road swing with a 43-37 victory over the Duncan Demons.

The non-conference win moved El Reno, ranked seventh in Class 5A, to 6-3 on the season heading into this weekend’s Shawnee Invitational.

El Reno outscored the Demons in three of the four periods, leading 10-7 after one frame, 20-12 at the half and 33-24 going into the fourth. Duncan trimmed three points off the deficit behind a 13-10 scoring edge over the final eight minutes.

Fueled by a 15-point scoring edge in the third period, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 65-35 win over Duncan.

The non-conference victory lifted the Indians, down several spots in the latest Class 5A poll to 13th, to 5-4 on the season heading into weekend play in the Shawnee Invitational.

“We made a big shot at the end of the second quarter and then came out in the second half and had that big run. We created turnovers that led to some easy baskets,” said El Reno head coach Rodney Haydon.

UNION CITY – Playing the first home game since the death of head coach Robert Duvall, Union City High School’s boys basketball team posted a wire-to-wire win over Gracemont.

The victory lifted the Tigers to 2-5 on the season and 1-2 in the Washita Valley Conference standings. It was the first game of 2021 for Union City due to COVID-19 concerns.