Sports

El Reno High School’s girls basketball team, which fell to No.7 in the Class 5A poll, will try to snap a four-game losing streak Friday at home against Elgin. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

Despite defeating Weatherford in the final game of the 2019 portion of its schedule, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team slipped out of the Top 10 in the latest Class 5A poll. The Indians are No.13 and the fifth team from the Suburban Conference ranked in the Top 15 of the same poll. The Indians return to action Friday with a home game against Elgin, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m.

Head coach Tyrone Lewis is getting his El Reno High School wrestlers “battle-tested” well before the push for a spot at dual state and beyond, closing out the 2019 portion of the Indians schedule at one of the nation’s toughest events.

El Reno, ranked No.7 in the Class 5A tournament team rankings, was one of 11 Oklahoma teams to travel to Missouri for the 2019 Kansas City Stampede, as the Indians placed 41st overall with 126.5 team points.

Holding a two-game losing streak and facing a 13-day layoff between games, the last thing El Reno High School’s boys basketball team wanted was to enter the holiday break with another loss.

That sense of urgency showed on the court from the opening tipoff as the Indians overcame a couple of first-period ties to post an 83-70 win over the Weatherford Eagles.

On the eye-test scale, last week’s top 10 matchup between El Reno High School’s girls basketball team and Weatherford was sloppy as the teams combined for 49 turnovers.

The difference was the Eagles, ranked No.9 in Class 4A, were able to overcome those miscues with 46 percent shooting – a mark the Indians could not duplicate.

The end result was a 52-35 win for Weatherford which remains undefeated on the season. El Reno, ranked fourth in Class 5A, slipped to 2-4 on the year with its fourth straight setback.