Sports Greatest Rivalries

Ada —
 

Ada, Byng and Vanoss will all get home games Thursday as regional play begins for Classes 2A through 4A, but those three schools are the exceptions in a busy travel week for area basketball teams.

At Ada, the 8-16 Lady Cougars, coming off a 46-34 loss to the host Lady Redskins Friday in the championship game of the Class 4A District Tournament at McLoud, will face Pauls Valley in a loser-out contest at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Cougar Activity Center.  Ada’s 16th-ranked boys squad, which improved to 14-9 with a victory over McLoud last week, will meet Elgin at 8 p.m. for the right to advance to Saturday’s regional title game Newcastle.

Byng will also host the first round of its Class 4A Regional Tournament, and both the 10th-ranked Lady Pirates and the eighth-ranked Pirates will play teams from Tulsa Webster, which has the No. 12 girls squad in 4A. 

In Class 3A, the Coalgate girls will face Stigler in a loser’s bracket contest at 1:30 p.m. and the Coalgate boys will take on Sequoyah-Tahlequah in a semifinal at 8 p.m. at the regional tournament at Wilburton.  The Lady Wildcats will need a victory to advance to another eliminaton game Friday, also at Wilburton. With a victory, the Wild Cats will advance to Saturday’s championship game; with a loss they will play an elimination game on Friday. 

The Vanoss girls and Stratford boys survived Friday’s head-to-head rivalry match-ups in the first round of the Class 2A District Tournament at Wewoka, then both were shoved into the loser’s bracket with losses to the host squads Saturday.  Those defeats set up elimination games for both teams Thursday afternoon at Vanoss, where the Lady Wolves (12-14) and the Bulldogs (18-6) will take on teams from Wynnewood at 1:30 and 3 p.m. respectively.

Elsewhere in Class 2A, the Latta girls and boys will both be at Rock Creek for regional semifinal contests Thursday after posting double-digit victories at home Saturday in their district championship games.  The 20th-ranked Lady Panthers — 18-7 after routing Rock Creek, 72-31 Saturday — will meet Silo at 6:30 p.m., and the Panthers — 19-7 after a 47-35 district win over Calera — will take on No. 8 Caddo at 8 p.m.

At Atoka, the Konawa boys squad will try to rebound from a 45-38 loss to host Amber-Pocasset in Saturday’s district title game and survive against Rattan in a 3 p.m. loser-out contest.  

Ada boys coach Ron Anderson saw his team struggle to a 16-8 halftime advantage over a four-win McLoud team Friday before roaring back to dominate the second half en route to a convincing 54-20 victory.  Anderson said the Cougars will have to play a more complete game Thursday against an Elgin squad that manhandled Pauls Valley in district play.

“We watched them play Pauls Valley the other night and they’re pretty darn good,” Anderson said of the Owls.  “They have a point guard who can score from almost anywhere.  They run a lot of things to get him shots, so we’re going to have to focus on him.  They have decent size, and they can step out beyond the 3-point line and knock down some shots.

“They’re probably the most fundamental defensive team we’ve played all year — they just do everything right,” he added.  “We’re actually going to try to take advantage of the things they do so well.”

Anderson said he will tweak a few things for the regional round of the playoffs but added that the biggest change will have to come from the Cougars themselves.

“In tournament time you’ve to anticipate what might happen in the future — it’s not a time to make a lot of changes, but you’re going to see teams you haven’t seen before, so you’re going to have to make adjustments.  We have to prepare for anything.

“I didn’t think we came ready to play last week,” Anderson said.  “(Senior) Paxton (Kilby) came to play but the rest didn’t.  I think we took (McLoud) lightly, and you can’t do that in the playoffs.  I was happy with the way it ended, but I wasn’t happy with the way it started, and that’s been our nemesis all year — the way we’ve started.”

Ada’s girls squad started better than the boys, but the Lady Cougars fell victim to a late stall and some clutch free throw shooting by McLoud and now face a must-win game at home Thursday against a Pauls Valley squad that also has a losing record.

“They have a post kid who is probably 5-9 and 5-10, so we’ll have to give her a lot of attention, but otherwise I don’t know a lot about (the Lady Panthers),” Shannon said.  “Their record isn’t very good, but neither is ours.

“We tried a triangle-and-two (against McLoud) and we had the lead, then when they took the lead they pulled it out and I couldn’t guard them in a man,” she said.  “I had to start fouling, and they made their free throws.” 

Shannon, who returned only one starter — sophomore Aaliyah Blakley off the team that made the area tournament last year — said playing in familiar surroundings this week should benefit her young squad. 

“It’s always nice to play at home,” she said.  “Hopefully we can get a win there, and we’ve played at Newcastle before, so we’re familiar with that floor.  We made a few errors that cost us (Friday), but I feel good about Thursday.”  

Byng’s Lady Pirates have already wrapped up their second straight 20-win season and first 20-win regular season since 2004-2005 and are ranked in the top 10 for the first time in a decade.  But if they want to advance to Saturday’s regional championship game at Okmulgee, they will have to get past a big, physical Webster squad.

“They’re really good,” said Byng coach Matt Fike, whose club improved to 21-5 with a 57-39 victory over the host squad Friday in the 4A District Tournament at Seminole.  “I went and watched them a couple of weeks ago just thinking they might be a match-up.

“They’re gigantic,” he added.  “They have two 6-2 girls, and they’re very athletic.

While the Byng girls cruised to their district title, the Pirates struggled in a 43-37 victory over the host Chieftains, and, although his 23-2 squad will face an unranked team Thursday, Byng coach Trent Miller said Webster is a dangerous opponent.

“They’re pretty athletic and they play a pretty tough schedule — a lot of 5A and 6A schools around the Tulsa area,” he noted.  “We have to minimize turnovers and rebound the basketball better – I think those two things will be key for us.”

Miller said returning home and having senior point guard Chad Cloud back at full strength should make a difference for the Pirates this week.

“Not to make excuses but Chad was sick, he had missed the previous two days of school (before Friday’s game),” Miller said.  “We practice (Monday) and he already looked better.  

“I think it helps that we’re playing at home,” he added.  “I think we’ll go out and do a good job.” 

At Rock Creek, the Latta girls will face a Silo squad they defeated in the championship game at last month’s Kingston Tournament; the Panthers, meanwhile will try to upset a Caddo team that has been ranked in the 2A top 10 all season.

“It’s not a bad draw,” Latta girls coach David Tinkler said.  “We can play with (the Lady Rebels).  They have a major size advantage over us both inside and out, but we were able to overcome that last time.”

Tinkler lost a valuable reserve when Taryn Wood suffered a torn ACL in the Lady Panthers’ final home game, and a victory Thursday will probably earn his team a showdown with 2A No. 1 Snyder in Saturday’s regional title game at Lone Grove.  

“I wish we hadn’t lost Taryn — that hurts out guard depth — but we’ve done some things over the last two games that I’ve been pleased with,” Tinkler said.  “Our transition game has been better, and we’ve been working on that.” 

Tinkler said things won’t get any easier for his team the rest of the way in an area draw that, in addition to the No. 1 team in 2A, includes No. 5 Thomas and No. 9 Colbert.

“It’s a pretty tall task for all of us,” he said.  “Snyder would have to get the edge because they’re the No. 1 team and the defending state champion, but it’s a pretty stacked area — I think as tough an area as there is.

“We’re hoping to gain some experience in this playoff run and get better because of it,” Tinkler added.  “The kids get a feel for it, and with as many young kids as we have playing, it will be good for them.  If we get a few breaks here and there, you never know what might happen.”

The Latta boys had to grind out a 12-point win over Calera Saturday and will face a much tougher task Thursday.

“(Caddo) is rated anywhere from 6 to 8 depending on what rankings you look at,” Latta coach Donnie Husband said.  “They played in the Tournament of Champions last year, they were in the Class A state tournament last year and they’ve got almost everybody back.  They’re a formidable opponent.”

Husband, who has three sophomores and two juniors in his starting lineup and a bench that is also made up almost entirely of underclassmen, said his team will match up well with Caddo in several areas.

“We’ve got on-the-ball defenders and we do a good job of help-and-recover, so I think we could do a good job defensively,” he predicted.  “We’ve done a pretty good job of not giving up extra shots.  I think size-wise and foot speed-wise we match up pretty well with them.

“They’ve got more experience than we do, but that doesn’t really matter this time of the season,” Husband said.  “I don’t think we’ll be overwhelmed by the situation.  I’m looking forward to how we respond.  I certainly think we’ll compete with them.  It’s the same story we’ve had all year — we’ve got to outwork them and do a lot of little things that help make us successful.”

At Vanoss, the Stratford boys will be facing a Wynnewood squad they beat with ease in their conference tournament in December but struggled to get past in a rematch last month at Wynnewood.  Veteran Stratford coach Mark Qualls — whose Bulldogs easily handled a Vanoss team Friday they had also beaten twice this season — said he doesn’t see an advantage either way in Thursday’s game. 

“They’ve gotten a whole lot better as the season has gone along, so I’m sure it will be a close one,” he said.  “Playoffs are a whole new season.  I think everybody kind of regroups, so I don’t think it’s a bad thing either way.  I think you can let it be a disadvantage, but when we played Vanoss the third time we acted like the first two games never happened.  We approach it like it’s a whole new season so I don’t think it’s an advantage or a disadvantage.”

Qualls, who lost all five starters off last year’s 2A semifinal squad, said he has been pleased — and a little bit surprised — with the success his rebuilt team has enjoyed so far this season and would like to glean a little more experience from this year’s playoffs.

“I never look ahead and say what games we’re going to win or not win, but I’m proud of them,” he said.  “I think a lot of people are surprised we’ve won 18 games, but we’re not satisfied.  

“The playoffs are so much different from the regular season — it’s a whole different atmosphere and you try to expose your kids to that as much as possible,” Qualls explained. “We can use it as a springboard to next season, and you owe it to your seniors to go as far as you can.  We haven’t lost back-to-back games all season — they’ve always bounced back after a loss with a victory — and it’s no time to start doing that now.” 

Article source: http://theadanews.com/sports/x1058960815/Ada-two-other-to-host-home-playoff-games