Sports

Missing six starters, five of those with injuries, put El Reno High School’s boys wrestling team in a bind during its season-opening 53-21 loss to Piedmont.

The Wildcats, ranked sixth in Class 6A, defeated El Reno for a second straight year as the 14th-ranked Indians (5A) won only four matches in the duel, three of those on the mat.

“It was a tough opener and we are missing six starters, but we wrestled pretty hard. There are some things we need to clean up and we will be all right. We rolled out there with what we had and we did our best.

A pair of early forfeits set El Reno High School’s girls wrestling team, ranked 10th in Class 6A, on the right path in its season-opening 34-28 win over Piedmont.

It was the first official girls duel between the two Canadian County rivals, which had wrestled only individual and exhibition matches in previous seasons.

El Reno never trailed as Reny Whitney (100) and Nylley Miller (105) got forfeits, followed by Brooklynn Huggins (110) with a 10-0 shutout of Piedmont’s Carissa Martin.

Sparked by a 34-0 run in the first period, Union City High School’s boys basketball team cruised to its second win of the year with a 77-19 decision over Gracemont.

The season-high scoring left the Tigers with a 2-5 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the Washita Valley Conference standings.

Union City got 11 points from Matthew Mendoza and 10 from Aiden Williams in the first period as the Tigers led 34-0. Union City was up 46-4 at halftime and 58-12 after three periods before outscoring the Lions 19-7 in the fourth.

Morgan Brothers scored 13 of her game-high 18 points in the second period as Union City High School’s girls basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 60-20 win over Gracemont.

The Tigers dropped out of the Class A state rankings with the skid but improved to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Washita Valley Conference standings with the 40-point decision over the Lions.

Brothers was one of three players in double digits as Reyna Mendoza followed with 12 points and Kamryn Cook with 11. Keely Riley closed with nine points, while Lilly Russell added four points.

The Jenks Simmons Field House Annex was the site for the Eighth Annual El Reno Archery Tournament over the weekend.

The event hosted 760 archers representing 40 schools and is the first of two qualifying events for state that El Reno will host.

El Reno High School was runner-up to Lawton MacArthur, while El Reno’s junior high team took third behind Altus and Clinton.

Ethen Turner releases an arrow toward a 10-meter target. (Tribune photographer/Glen Miller)

Overcoming a dismal shooting night from the 3-point arc, Calumet High School’s boys basketball team extended its regular-season winning streak to 31 games in a row with a 27-point win over Hinton.

The Chieftains, ranked second in the state in Class B, moved to 6-0 on the season with a 71-44 decision over the Comets.

Calumet struggled to a 3-of-23 effort from the 3-point line against Hinton for 13 percent.

Talon Arnold, Kaleb Thiessen and Kingston Arnold posted a trey each.

Held to a season-low 10 points in the second half, Okarche High School’s girls basketball team had its two-game win streak snapped last week with a 38-31 loss to Oklahoma Bible Academy.

The Warriors, ranked 12th in Class A, fell to 3-2 overall with the loss to OBA, which held the No.8 spot in the Class 2A poll.

Okarche held a 13-5 lead after one period and a 21-15 lead at the half. However, the Warriors scored just six points in the third and four over the final eight minutes.

El Reno High School landed two players on each of the three teams voted on by member coaches to make up the 2024 All-Suburban Conference Volleyball Team.

The Indians were coming off a 13-17 season which saw the team win its final three regular-season matches before losing out in the Class 5A regional semifinal round to Collinsville.

Earning a spot on the all-conference first team for El Reno were Trinity Black and Daily Maples.

Okarche High School Guard Squad members Bailey Bomhak (left) and Kaytlin Steelman cheer with other squad members during a timeout at a recent home basketball game.

The time to celebrate the Class 5A state championship is over because the hunter has now become the hunted.

El Reno High School’s girls basketball team will kick off the 2024-25 season Tuesday night at home with Guymon as the No.1 team in the majority of preseason polls.

So has the hunted changed its tactics in preparation to defend its title and a shot at back-to-back state titles? Has the atmosphere around preseason work changed being the queen of the hill?

The answer is a firm no for both from head coach Jennifer Douglas.