Sports

Getting to the Elite Eight for a third straight year is going to take some work for the 20th-ranked Okarche High School girls basketball team following a 10-point loss to top-ranked Seiling.

The Warriors slipped to 19-9 on the season with a 57-47 setback in the Class A, Area I, Region A championship game. Okarche defeated No.16 Garber (40-35) in the semifinals.

It will take three straight wins for Okarche to get back to the state tourney for a 32nd time, the first game being against Porter Consolidated in the Area I consolation quarterfinals.

Savon Myers logged a double-double as Redlands Community College men’s basketball team climbed back into a log jam in the middle of the NJCAA Region 2 standings with a 79-70 win over Murray State College.

The Cougars were coming off a home loss to Seminole State College (84-70), with the split leaving Redlands with a 19-8 season record. Currently sixth in the region standings with a 7-6 record, RCC is only a game out of third.

Redlands Community College women’s basketball team had its three-game win streak snapped last week with a 67-63 home loss to league-leader Murray State College.

The Cougars were coming off a win over Seminole State College (67-56) as the split left Redlands with a 14-10 overall mark. The victory over the Belles was key as RCC is now 7-6 in the Region 2 standings - half a game back of SCC (8-6) for third.

MUSTANG – In a similar fashion to their first meeting, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team used a dominating third period to pull away from the Mustang Broncos.

El Reno led by a point at halftime, 23-22, but outscored the Broncos 43-33 over the final two periods to secure a 66-55 win to close out the regular season with a sweep of Mustang.

The Indians, now 22-2 on the year, switch focus to the Class 5A playoffs and hosting the Region 1 Championships.

El Reno takes on Altus (4-20) Thursday at 6 p.m., followed by Midwest City and Noble at 7:30 p.m.

MUSTANG – El Reno High School’s girls basketball team was handed a wake-up call prior to the upcoming Class 5A playoffs as Mustang defeated the Indians 68-43 to close out the regular season.

The loss to the Class 6A Broncos dropped El Reno to 19-4 on the season.

It was the first meeting between the two schools since the finals of the Shawnee Invitational in 2022 – which Mustang won by 15 points.

Paced by six state qualifiers, El Reno High School’s boys squad took seventh place last week at the Class 5A West Regional Wrestling Championships with 108.5 points.

Chickasha, the host and top-ranked team in 5A, ran away with the title with 286.5 points, followed by Elgin (204), Lawton MacArthur (146.5), Carl Albert (141) and Duncan (134) to round out the top five. Blanchard (125) finished ahead of El Reno in the 18-team field.

With every shot that Carter Roman Nose took in last week’s game with Carl Albert, there were collective gasps rolling out of the mouths of El Reno fans along with the occasional, “There it is.”

And with every shot by the senior that ripped the threads, there were pencils and pens in the hands of the EHS coaches and this journalist jotting down notes and doing quick math.

Yet somehow through all that chaotic madness, Roman Nose never picked up on the fact he was on the brink of making El Reno High School history.

MIDWEST CITY – Carl Albert used a 9-0 run in the final three minutes of the third period to pull away from El Reno High School’s girls basketball team for a 54-38 victory and dethroned the Indians as the District 5A-1 champion.

The Titans (24-1) swept the series from El Reno en route to a 14-0 run to the league title.

The Indians, coming off a 71-14 win over Santa Fe South, slipped to 19-3 overall and 12-2 in the league to finish second. 

Both teams will host a regional in the upcoming 5A playoffs.

MIDWEST CITY – A questionable string of events over the final 10 seconds allowed Carl Albert to hand El Reno High School’s boys basketball team a 61-54 loss in the final District 5A-1 game for both squads.

The loss dropped El Reno to 21-2 on the season but the Indians still won the league title with a 13-1 record after the split with the Titans. The Indians won the first meeting by five points.

Despite the loss, El Reno retains the top seed from 5A-1 as the champion and will host a regional next week. The Indians were slated to wrap up the regular season at Mustang.

TULSA – Logging only three wins, El Reno High School’s first trip to the Class 5A Dual State Championship since 2021 ended with a 58-14 quarterfinals loss to second-ranked Claremore.

With the setback to the Zebras, El Reno, ranked 12th in the state, closes its dual season with a 6-4 overall record.

El Reno got off to a fast start as Coleman Iker (190) ran out to a 3-1 lead after one period. He then caught Xavier Duncan in a second-period cradle and scored a fall (3:00) for a 6-0 lead.