Sports

After dropping a 28-point game to Class 5A’s top-ranked Del City in their first meeting 17 days earlier, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team played the Eagles to their closest league contest to date in the rematch last week.

The Eagles needed double-digit scoring efforts in each of the first three periods to hold off the upset-minded Indians 48-38 to remain undefeated in Suburban Conference action.

El Reno, meanwhile, slipped to 3-2 in the league.

The Indians, ranked eighth in Class 5A among West-side teams for the upcoming playoffs, are now 8-8 overall.

Placing all seven grapplers taken to the 2022 Chickasha High School Classic, El Reno High School’s wrestling team placed fourth out of 18 teams in its final tournament before the Class 5A regional tournament.

El Reno, ranked second in Class 5A, logged 167 points to finish behind Carl Albert (205), Lawton MacArthur (191) and Duncan (180).

Rounding out the top 10 were Chickasha (152), Yukon (141.5), Piedmont (137), Norman (121), Putnam City (118.5) and Watonga with 101.5.

UNION CITY – Squandering a 15-point lead in the fourth period, Union City High School’s girls basketball team put the ball in the hands of point guard Taytim Woods down the stretch and the senior delivered.

Woods sparked a 10-2 run by the Tigers with six straight free throws as Union City went on to defeat Alex 54-49 in non-conference play.

The win lifted Daniel Anderson’s team to 11-9 on the season.

UNION CITY - Two days after picking up a huge road win over Corn Bible Academy in Washita Valley Conference play, Union City High School’s boys basketball team struggled on offense in the bookend periods against Alex.

The Tigers scored the first four points of the game but allowed a 17-0 run by the Longhorns. Union City trailed 17-6 after one period and 30-20 at the half.

Union City went on a 21-6 break in the third period to lead 41-36 going into the final period, but was outscored 20-3 en route to a 56-44 loss to Alex in the non-conference game.

In a fitting conclusion to her record-setting night, El Reno High School’s Ashlyn Evans-Thompson sealed her team's win over Class 4A’s sixth-ranked Kingfisher with success at one of her self-proclaimed weaknesses.

The senior hit two free throws with 6.5 seconds left as the Indians defeated the Yellowjackets 38-34 in the first of four games before the reporting deadline for playoff pairings.

El Reno, ranked second in the state among West-side schools in Class 5A, improved to 12-3 on the season.

Despite 89 games and more than 1,200 career points under her belt, Ashlyn Evans-Thompson had a freshman case of the butterflies going into the game with Kingfisher.

“I was really nervous,” said Evans-Thompson.

Who could blame her?

Sitting on the home side of Jenks Simmons Field House was her family, friends and fans all focused on watching the task at hand – setting El Reno’s career scoring mark for 5-on-5 girls basketball.

A pair of freshmen came up with two upperclassmen clutch plays in crunch time as El Reno High School’s boys basketball team pulled off an upset that could affect two classifications for the upcoming playoff pairings.

El Reno, now 8-7 on the year and ranked eighth in Class 5A among West-side schools, defeated Class 4A’s top-ranked Kingfisher 45-43 in non-conference play.

After losing to Guthrie in the 2022 Suburban Conference Championships earlier this month, El Reno High School’s wrestling team felt it had a score to settle.

Mission accomplished.

El Reno, which slipped to sixth in the latest Class 5A Dual Team rankings, defeated the fifth-ranked Bluejays 39-33 to move to 7-4 on the season.

The Indians never trailed in the road dual as Niko Gonzalez (106) scored a 1-0 decision over Kaedin Herendeen and Terry Guzman (113) got six forfeit points.

For a third time this season, Calumet High School’s girls basketball team suffered back-to-back losses following a 52-47 setback to cross-county rival Southwest Covenant.

The loss dropped Calumet to 13-9 on the season.

The Chieftains led 31-18 at the break but were outscored 34-16 over the final two periods by the Patriots. Calumet ended the game shooting 43 percent from the floor after making 14-of-24 shots from inside the arc (58 percent), but hitting just 5-of-20 3-point attempts.

While taking just five free-throw attempts is never a good sign, Okarche High School’s boys basketball team didn’t need to score single points in its game with Crescent.

That’s because the Warriors were knocking down shots away from the charity stripe in a 62-40 victory over the Tigers.

Okarche, ranked 17th in Class A, improved to 16-6 on the season after hitting 51.7 percent (15-of-29) of its two-point attempts.

The Warriors were 10-of-27 from behind the 3-point arc for 37 percent and added two free throws.