Sports

It was a rough start back from the Thanksgiving break for Canadian County’s three small schools, with only Okarche notching a mark in the win column.

The Warriors moved to 2-2 on the season with a 68-21 victory over Coyle.

It was the second straight game for the Okarche girls to top the 60-point margin, while the defense has allowed only 28 combined points in the two wins.

Okarche defeated Harding Fine Arts 63-7 before the break.

Hunter Arnold, who surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this year, scored 21 second-half points as Calumet High School’s boys basketball team survived an upset scare by The Academy to post a 72-64 victory.

The eight-point win over the private school from Oklahoma City was the closest game this season for Calumet, which improved to 5-0.

The victory extends CHS’ regular-season win streak to 25 in a row dating back to last season.

Redlands Community College women’s basketball team picked up its third straight win with a 65-56 decision over Crowder College in the first of two meetings with the Missouri-based school.

The Cougars, now 7-2 on the season, put up double-digit scoring in three of the four periods including a 22-12 run in the fourth to help erase a 44-43 deficit after three frames.

Redlands was 28-of-57 from the field for 49 percent after hitting just 4-of-12 shots from the 3-point line.

El Reno High School’s boys basketball team opens the 2023-24 season Friday night at home against Carl Albert, which leaves little time for the Indians to complete a reload of its roster.

Yet that is exactly what head coach Rodney Haydon is asking of fans - time and trust.

“We lost five of our top seven guys (graduation) from last year and that is a lot of playing time and experience. It’s going to take a little time before we jell together,” said Haydon.

He’s asking for the trust factor in the fact reloading teams is nothing new to both the coach and the program.

El Reno High School senior Iliana Ashford (center seated) signed a national letter of intent to play softball for Oklahoma City University.

Ashford was an all-district and all-region player for the Indians and will be an early graduate according to her father.

Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon (0) tries to dodge a group of BYU tacklers in the first half of the Cowboys 40-34 double overtime win.

Gordon scored five touchdowns to help send OSU into the Big 12 title game.

Though some programs may feel a bit uneasy having the spotlight focused on them from the onset of a new season, the attention being paid to El Reno High School’s girls basketball team is just part of the culture.

“I’ve always felt like we have had a target on our back. We’ve done a pretty good job over the last few years of getting to the state tourney and we have made a name for ourselves and everyone wants to beat El Reno,” said head coach Jennifer Douglas, who enters her eighth season at the EHS helm.

UNION CITY – One way to beat a zone defense is to prevent your opponent from having extra time to get its players down the court and set up in the paint.

Union City High School’s girls team worked this to perfection late in the third period of last week’s home game with Vici.

After watching a lead in the mid-20s be whittled down to the high teens after a series of missed shots, the Tigers stepped up the tempo of their transition game.

The result was four straight baskets in the zone as the lead was rebuilt back into the 20s and more.

UNION CITY – In its closest game to date, Union City High School’s boys basketball team’s shot at its first win streak of the season came down to the final shot.

Laven Zeier's 3-pointer in the final seconds missed short as the Tigers dropped a 51-50 game to Vici in the first regular-season meeting between the Class A schools in recent years.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-3 on the season.