Sports

NORMAN – Putting up yet another fourth-period rally, El Reno made Sapulpa work for every point over the final eight minutes before falling 58-44 in the semifinals of the 2023 Class 5A Girls Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships.

“I’m so proud of the girls. We put up our five goals for the season on the board and we met every single one of those goals. We wanted to make it to state and we reached the semifinals.

“Sapulpa is a good team and they ended up winning the title,” said Douglas.

El Reno High School’s girls basketball team played in the Class 5A state semifinals last week at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

Despite two noon games, the team had good support in the stands and courtside.

El Reno split games over the weekend with a 4-0 win over Clinton and an 11-3 loss to Chickasha. See Saturday’s edition for a wrap-up.

El Reno will be back in action Thursday hosting games in the annual Union City Spring Break Festival.

Latin Everheart continued El Reno High School’s string of individual titles in the Large School Division at the 2023 Oklahoma Powerlifting Coaches Association’s State Championships held at Jenks Simmons Field House.

Everheart was one of two medalists for the Indians this season, winning the 123-pound weight class, while Malachi Nicholson took fifth place at 181 pounds.

El Reno, which sent four lifters to state, was third as a team in the Class 5A bracket with 79 points. The Indians finished behind Grove (79) and McAlester (59) and edged out Del City by a point.

NORMAN – Two words were stressed in huddle before the start of the fourth period of El Reno’s quarterfinal game at the 2023 Class 5A Girls Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships.

“Energy and effort. We just needed to bring more energy,” said El Reno junior post player Pauline Black-Harmon.

El Reno did just that and more, using a 16-5 run to open the period en route to a 61-51 come-from-behind win over Tahlequah. The Indians avenged their 2017 quarterfinal loss to the Tigers and advanced to the semifinals for the third straight year to play Sapulpa.

NORMAN – A series of turnovers to start the first and third periods proved too big of a hurdle for El Reno to overcome in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Class 5A Boys Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships.

Holland Hall, the No.2 seed from the East, scored 16 points off 10 El Reno miscues in the two periods en route to a 51-36 victory.

Two bad innings turned out to be the stumbling blocks for El Reno High School’s baseball team in its first District 5A-1 doubleheader of the season. Bishop McGuinness scored nine of its 11 runs for the series in those two frames as the Irish swept the doubleheader behind scores of 4-1 and 7-2. El Reno slips to 1-2 for the season and 0-2 in the district standings.

El Reno High School’s Raley Wicker-Hartley placed fourth last week at the 2023 Oklahoma Girls Powerlifting Coaches Association’s State Championships.

The junior was one of four EHS lifters to make state as the team racked up 17 points en route to a 14th-place finish out of 36 squads in the Large School Division.

Two goals in the final 23 minutes spoiled the home opener for El Reno High School’s girls soccer team as Woodward handed the Indians their first defeat of the season, 2-0.

El Reno slipped to 1-1 on the year after a 3-1 road win over Western Heights last week.

“I thought we looked good against Western Heights and the first half of the Woodward game. I just think we got out-worked a bit the second half against Woodward.

“We had plenty of opportunities to score and just couldn’t quite capitalize on them.

Woodward scored a goal in the first five minutes and rolled to a 5-1 win over El Reno High School’s boys soccer team as the Indians continue to search for their first win of 2023.

El Reno is 0-2 on the season after a 1-0 setback at Western Heights.

In the loss to the Boomers, El Reno scored a goal by senior Angel Martinez off an assist from Reyes Covarrubias.

Goalkeeper Aldo DeLaTorre logged four saves in the loss.