Sports

In a rather stunning outcome, Union City High School’s girls basketball team dropped a 35-29 decision to Gracemont in the fifth-place game of the 2022 Washita Valley Conference Shootout, hosted by Southwestern Oklahoma State University.

The score was a head-turner considering Union City had defeated the Lions by 25 points in the regular-season conference meeting and was riding a two-game win streak into the shootout.

Gracemont, meanwhile, had won only three games this season and only once since the turn of the new year.

Prior to the game with Kingfisher, El Reno High School girls basketball coach Jennifer Douglas told her players they needed to win the next four games to assure themselves a home regional.

The Indians are one step away from that goal, using a 23-11 run in the fourth quarter to pull away from No.7 Piedmont for a 49-35 victory – the team’s third in a row.

Teams in the upper classifications statewide are to report win-loss records on Monday to be used for bracketing for the upcoming playoffs.

Schools were separated into the East/West split in late January.

Using both its small and large lineups in the second half, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team held off two comeback attempts by No.11 Piedmont to complete the season sweep of the Wildcats.

The Indians scored six of the game’s final eight points to pull away for a 64-52 victory in which the Indians never trailed their cross-county rival.

El Reno, which jumped a spot to No.7 among the 16 teams on the West side of the state, improved to 9-8 on the season with the win. The Indians are now 4-2 in Suburban Conference standings.

From the small town of Union City where they first started their playing careers, all the way to state and national Hall of Fame inductions, brothers Lloyd and Wendell Simmons are considered baseball royalty in Oklahoma.

Now a third Union City legend, though infused later in life as a coach, has joined the brothers as elite players to have donned a University of Central Oklahoma jersey.

Breaking the recent chains on offense, Calumet High School’s girls basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 72-23 victory over Crescent.

The Chieftains improved to 14-10 on the season with the win.

Calumet, which had not scored over 47 points in its three previous games, put up double-digit points in all four periods. Kyle Axton’s team led 16-13 after one frame but outscored Crescent 56-10 over the final three.

J.D. Riley knocked down a trio of 3-pointers en route to a team-high 30 points as Union City High School’s boys basketball team jumped back into the win column with a 76-42 decision over Cement.

The Tigers improved to 13-8 on the season with the win.

Riley scored 13 baskets in the win, 10 of those coming from inside the arc, but had just one bucket in the fourth period. He was 1-of-3 from the free-throw line.

The remaining 46 points were spread among 10 players, led by Kaden Cummings with nine points, Rustin Dawson with eight and Jaden Straka with seven points.

Redlands Community College women’s basketball team suffered its second straight loss last week following a 66-56 home setback to Seminole State College.

The Cougars slipped to sixth in the NJCAA Region 2 standings with a 4-5 record and 10-7 overall for the season.

Redlands went 3-3 for the month of January with wins over Connors State (77-66), Western Oklahoma State College (75-70) and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (61-57). The other two losses were to Northern Oklahoma College of Tonkawa (80-53) and NOC Enid (65-49).

Following a positive start to the new year, the month of January proved to be a roller-coaster ride for Redlands Community College men’s basketball team.

The Cougars defeated Texas-based Frank Phillips College 80-75 in non-conference play to start the month, before posting a 2-4 record in the six games of NJCAA Region 2 action.

The 3-4 record for the month left Redlands with a 12-11 overall record and a 4-5 mark in the Region 2 standings. The Cougars defeated Western Oklahoma State College (79-68) and Northern Oklahoma of Enid (73-64).

Both the El Reno High School student section (first photo), and head coach Rodney Haydon (second photo) were puzzled by a call late in the Indians game with Kingfisher inside Jenks Simmons Field House.

After road games at Del City last week, El Reno’s two state-ranked basketball teams were set to return home to face cross-county rival Piedmont Tuesday night before hitting the road again to play Noble on Friday.

Both games are Suburban Conference outings.

The 100th day of classes for El Reno Public Schools ended with a triple-digit milestone for Jennifer Douglas and her high school girls basketball team.

The Indians pushed three players into double digits as El Reno went on the road to defeat Del City 50-36, and earned Douglas her 100th career victory as a head coach.

The 14-point win avenged an earlier loss to the Eagles and moved El Reno back into second place in the Suburban Conferences standings behind Carl Albert.