Sports

OKLAHOMA CITY – Okarche had just one 3-pointer for the game but that 19.7-foot shot could not have come at a better time.

Jalie Rother netted her third shot of the night from the perimeter with 3:32 left in the fourth period to spur the Warriors to a 60-55 win over No.6 Cyril in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Class A Girls Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships.

“It was a huge basket and a lift for the team when we needed it,” said Okarche head coach Haley Mitchell.

El Reno High School will be sending four lifters to Monday’s Oklahoma Girls Powerlifting Coaches Association 2023 State Championships being held in Durant.

Lifting out of the North Regional in Miami, Jewell Graham took third place in her division, while Raley Wicker-Hartley placed second to grab state passes.

Maria Espinoza and Claudia Garcia earned at-large bids to state.

Wicker-Hartley (heavyweight) posted a total of 885 pounds with a 385-pound squat, a 360-pound dead lift and a 140-pound bench.

OKLAHOMA CITY – A second period scoring drought proved too large of a hurdle to overcome as the Okarche boys suffered a 75-60 loss to No.2 Rattan in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Class A Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships.

The setback ended the fifth-ranked Warriors’ 13-game win streak and ends Okarche’s season with a 26-3 record. It was the first loss of the year for OHS to a Class A school in 12 games.

Despite losing seven of its last eight outings, Redlands Community College women’s basketball team qualified for the NJCAA Region 2 Championships as the No.8 seed.

The Cougars took an 11-18 overall record and a 4-11 Region 2 mark into their regular-season finale at Seminole State.

Redlands was coming off a 59-57 road loss at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, just days after snapping a six-game losing skid with a 73-60 win over Western Oklahoma State College.

Redlands Community College men’s basketball team was officially eliminated from the field for the NJCAA Region 2 Championships following an 84-74 road loss at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. The Cougars took an 11-18 overall record into its season finale at Seminole State College.

The loss to the Golden Norsemen dropped RCC to 3-12 in the Region 2 regular-season standings which are used for the postseason tourney qualification and seeding.

Redlands Community College’s baseball team closed out February by winning five out of six games including a road sweep of North Central Missouri College.

Playing in Joplin, Redlands defeated the Pirates 6-3, 2-1, 8-6 and 18-7 to close out the sweep, which left the Cougars with an 8-8 season record.

The four-game set saw Redlands log a 34-17 run margin off a .353 batting average. The Cougars went 41-of-116 from the plate with four doubles, two triples and four homers.

During practices leading up to the Class 5A West Region 3 Championships, El Reno High School’s girls basketball team spent extra time drilling long vertical passes to highlight its transition game.

The work paid off in the title game.

After defeating 14th-ranked Mount St. Mary 78-29 in the semifinals, El Reno used those long passes to pick apart 11th-ranked Guymon 79-37 to win the championship.

A day removed from shooting under 40 percent, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team hit 56 percent of its shots from the 3-point arc en route to a 75-53 win over Mount St. Mary to win the Class 5A West Region 3 Championships.

“We take things game by game and play to our strengths. Our shots were not falling yesterday but this was a different day and different game. Our shots were falling today,” said guard Alex Elizondo.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Though the team title eluded its grasp, El Reno High School’s wrestling program emerged from the 2023 Oklahoma State High School Wrestling Championships with a handful of firsts.

El Reno crowned two individual state champions in the same season for the first time since 2010 as Will Heger and Dailey Jennings captured gold medals.

Kaylee Davis not only became the first female wrestler in school history to place at state, the junior is the first EHS state champion in the girls division – now in its third sanctioned year at the championships.

Canadian County’s three small schools remaining in the 2023 basketball playoffs took the high road, and higher seeds, into their respective state tournaments after winning area titles over the weekend.

Fourth-ranked Calumet extended its winning streak to 24 straight with a 56-47 win over No.8 Goodwell in the Class B, Area II Championship. The Chieftains improved to 26-1 on the season with the nine-point win.

Calumet will be making its fourth trip to state in seven years under head coach Jacob Mayfield, who has one title (2017) and a runner-up (2019) finish.