Sports

By switching the state’s largest two classifications to district play for the 2023-24 basketball season, the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association eliminated traditional drama around the East/West split and final seeding rankings.

“You already know where you are headed,” said El Reno head coach Rodney Haydon.

Based off district play results after 13 games, El Reno went into last week’s regular-season finale with Shawnee with a solid notion of the paths to state for both the boys and girls teams.

El Reno High School seniors Kaylee Davis and Hannah Koen punched return tickets to the 2024 Oklahoma Girls State High School Wrestling Championships, which start Thursday at the State Fair Arena.

This year, however, the pair will have another teammate in the hunt for a state medal as Brooklynn Huggins joins the EHS lineup.

El Reno took five wrestlers to the recent Class 6A East Regional hosted by Glenpool.

The Indians compete in the upper division since the state offers just two flights for girls.

Seventy-five days after starting its journey at home, El Reno High School’s girls basketball team made history twice last week with a 43-28 victory over Shawnee on the same Jenks Simmons Field House court.

El Reno’s 15-point win over the Wolves put the finishing touches on a 14-game sweep through the league lineup to lay claim to the first-ever District 5A-1 title.

The victory also capped off El Reno’s regular season with a 23-0 record, marking the first time in school history for an EHS girls team to take an undefeated record into the playoffs.

El Reno High School’s boys basketball team experienced firsthand the old adage that it’s hard to beat the same team three times in one season – let alone four.

The Indians outscored Shawnee 23-13 in the fourth period to rally from a six-point deficit and pulled out a 69-65 win over the Wolves in the final game of the regular season.

Seniors on El Reno High School’s girls basketball team were honored last week prior to the start of the final regular season game.

Each senior was given a wooden jersey-shaped plaque and a Pendleton blanket provided by C&A Tribes District 2 legislators George Woods (Cheyenne) and Kendricks Sleeper (Arapaho).

El Reno would then defeat Shawnee to cap the school’s first girls undefeated regular season. 

El Reno High School seniors Dion Kaulaity and Malachi Nicholson used the recent national signing day to ink letters of intent to play college football.

El Reno High School senior Grady Lesperance (seated second from left) signed a national letter of intent to play baseball next season at Redlands Community College.

Lesperance is a two-year starter for the Indians.

Three is now the popular number for Calumet, Union City and Okarche High School’s boys basketball teams as the trio enter the regional round of the postseason unscathed.

All three schools claimed district titles and will carry win streaks into regional play. Each needs to win three straight games to make their respective state tournaments, or more if a contest is dropped in this stage of the postseason.

“One game at a time,” said Okarche head coach Aaron West.

Room near the top of the NJCAA Region 2 standings got a little more crowded last week as Redlands Community College women’s basketball team lost a 70-57 road game at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.

The 13-point loss drops Redlands to 16-6 on the season and 6-3 in the Region 2 standings. The Cougars remain second in the league but only by half a game over both NEO and Northern Oklahoma College (Tonkawa, Enid).

Isabella Stafford was one of two Redlands players in double digits with 27 points and completed a double-double with 12 rebounds and an assist.

Limiting teams on defense continues to haunt Redlands Community College men’s basketball team as the Cougars dropped the second of a three-game road trip to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, 93-57.

The loss was the fifth straight for Redlands in NJCAA Region 2 action as the Cougars have given up 87 or more points in each of the outings in that losing streak.

The Golden Norsemen swept the regular-season series over RCC with duplicate 93-point scoring efforts, while the Cougars offense managed only 124 points (62 per game) for the set.