State championship quest waylaid by Spartans

The second-ranked Dale Lady Pirates outscored 10th-ranked Amber-Pocassett 17-5 in the first quarter and cruised to a 51-35 victory in a girls high school basketball clash Friday night.
Brenna Burnett poured in a game-leading 19 points and Kaylee Wilkins added 15 for the Lady Pirates, who kept their perfect record intact at 3-0.

Stroud’s Tigers are one win closer to claiming the Class A gold ball after a 21-13 triumph over Pawnee in Friday night’s second-round playoff match. The Tigers are one of eight teams remaining in contention for the 2009 championship.

The turnover bug bit the Chandler Lions hard Friday night and the visiting Verdigris Cardinals took full advantage, earning a ticket to the Class 2A quarterfinals with a 14-13 win.
Leading 13-7 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter, Chandler’s Brandon Cummings tried to ignite a sputtering Chandler offense on a 3rd-and-13 pass from his own 24-yard line, but the Cardinals had no part of it. Senior Brandon Melton picked off the Cummings offering and traveled 37 yards to tie the game at 13 with 1:42 remaining. Tyler Hansloven then converted the extra point to give the Cardinals a 14-13 lead. its first of the contest.
“We knew coming into the game that we couldn’t lose the turnover battle, “ said Chandler head coach Neal Bacon.

The Liberty Academy girls, behind a 21-5 first quarter and a double-double from Charity Fowler, rolled to a 65-46 basketball victory over Lawton Christian Friday night.
Fowler fired in 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while Blair Johnson tossed in 18 points for the Lady Eagles, who improved to 5-2 on the season.

James Turney registered a double-double with 34 points and 14 rebounds as the Macomb Hornets opened the 2009-10 basketball season with a 72-55 triumph over Sasakwa Friday night.

Brandon McCoy led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points as the Meeker Bulldogs opened the 2009-10 basketball season with a 59-49 win over the Wellston Tigers Friday night.
Zack Wood and Nathan Bellymule joined McCoy in double figures with 12 apiece as Meeker outscored Wellston in very quarter but the fourth.

Megan Maloy and Jordon Lasley scored 14 points apiece as the Earlsboro Lady Wildcats secured a 49-33 win over host Varnum Friday night.
Lorren Brannon tallied 12 points and Arion Harris was next with seven as Earlsboro evened its season record at 2-2.

Oklahoma Baptist absorbed its first women’s basketball loss in a defensive struggle against NCAA Division II’s 12th-ranked team, Central Oklahoma, 61-56 Friday.
The Lady Bison had its worst shooting game of the young season, missing all nine second-half three-point attempts and hitting 39 percent from the field for the game.

If Southern Mississippi wants a place in the Conference USA championship game, the Golden Eagles must defeat a Tulsa team that appears vulnerable after five straight losses.

Mike Leach wants his Texas Tech team to leave behind last year’s loss at Oklahoma when the Red Raiders play the Sooners on Saturday.
The 65-21 rout last November ended Tech’ unbeaten season and eliminated their chance of playing for the national title. The win kept the Sooners ahead of Texas in the BCS standings and sent OU to play for the national championship against Florida.

One win down, four to go.
The Lions of Chandler and the Tigers of Stroud each prevailed last week in the first round of the 2009 football postseason, and second-round action looms tonight as the crews keep hopes alive of reaching the big show.

Pin the ears back and let fly.
That’s the defensive trademark of the Bixby Spartans, who will try to put a snafu in Shawnee’s Class 5A state championship dreams.

A tremendous difference in the 3-point shooting department allowed East Central’s women to pull off a 74-70 victory over host St. Gregory’s Thursday night at W.P. Wood Fieldhouse.

Oklahoma Baptist’s women, 3-0 and ranked third in the NAIA, will take on 12th-ranked, NCAA Division 11 Central Oklahoma at 11:30 a.m. today at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse in Weatherford.

Consider one of the premiere young women’s basketball players in Kenya, Purity Odhiambo has signed to play basketball at Oklahoma Baptist University.

Two members of Crain’s Muscle World Limited took first place at last weekend’s 2009 USPF 12th annual Crain Open Powerlifting/Bench Press/Deadlift championships at the Crain’s Muscle World gym.

Rashard Lewis fell one assist shy of his first triple-double, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the Orlando Magic’s 108-94 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
Lewis, who was suspended for the first 10 games of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, didn’t play in the fourth quarter, which the Magic started with an 88-58 lead

With four Tuesday night victories, the Big 12 Conference ran its basketball record to 23-0 against non-conference foes. The Big 12 and the Big East are the only two conferences with undefeated records.
The most impressive Big 12 victories have come from Kansas, via a 57-55 decision over Memphis Tuesday night, and Texas Tech’s 64-60 decision over visiting Oregon State Sunday night.

When Oklahoma State’s current senior class arrived on campus, it was with the promise of better days.
All that existed at the time were blueprints and drawings of what would be built during a renovation of Boone Pickens Stadium and the dreams of what the team could do on the field.
Brick by brick, the stadium blossomed before their eyes. And win by win, the program has emerged, too, as one with national power.
Those seniors — a group that includes 15 starters — will play their final game in Stillwater as Colorado (3-7, 2-4 Big 12) pays a visit for No. 12 Oklahoma State’s first Thursday night home game since 1995.

Solomon Bozeman had 16 points and Kelson Stewart had 15 as Arkansas-Little Rock routed St. Gregory’s 100-56 Wednesday night.