Area hoops: Owasso sweeps BHS; WCS advances; Copan season ends

The halcyon days of a high school sports season are like a cluster of hyacinths — colorful, luminous and too short-lived.

For a few area prep basketball teams, the end happened this weekend — in one way or another.

On Friday, the Bartlesville High School teams played their final home games — closing out that phase of their campaign — although they still have one regular season game and postseason contests remaining before the ultimate buzzer will sound.

But, for some Copan, Barnsdall and Wesleyan Christian School teams, the final chapter has been written.

Bartlesville teams endured a tough final outing at the Bruin Fieldhouse — but not totally — against the Owasso High School invaders.

In the girls’ game, Bartlesville (11-10) scrapped with valiant verve but lost, 50-37. Yes, there are such things as moral victories, and yes the Lady Bruins recorded one in this game. In the previous outing against Owasso (16-5), the Lady Bruins have been routed, 68-27.

The gritty but struggling Bruin boys’ team suffered a bittersweet home finale in an 80-20 loss to state champion-favorite Owasso Rams (18-3).

Bartlesville — which is coached by Clent Stewart — has battled this season through inexperience and limited depth, especially in the post.

Following are more details about Friday’s area games.

GIRLS: Owasso 50, Bartlesville 37

Bartlesville seniors Mikka Chambers and Grace McPhail led a strong effort in their final career home game.

Chambers pumped in 19 points and helped keep the Lady Bruins within striking distance. McPhail, who has missed 15 games due to injury and rehabilitation, provided strong playmaking and defense to the mix.

Emma Zimmerman added 11 points while Alayah Lunn and Kennedy Nubel also contributed points.

The Lady Bruins — who are coached by Justyn Shaw — played Owasso virtually even the final three quarters.

After the Lady Rams charged out to an 11-2 lead in the opening period they outscored Bartlesville just 39-35 the rest of the way.

Back-to-back treys by Zimmerman and Chambers to open the second quarter sliced Owasso’s lead to 12-8. Nubel nailed two key free throws late in the half to keep Bartlesville within 11 points, 22-11, by intermission.

The Lady Bruins used the long ball again — on consecutive treys by Chambers and Lunn — to quickly narrow Owasso’s lead to five points, 22-17, in the opening phase of the third quarter.

Bartlesville continued to hang back by a single-digit; Owasso carried an eight-point lead into the final quarter, 34-26.

Well into the quarter, Bartlesville trailed by only seven points, 40-33.

But, Owasso then put on a mini-scoring spurt to go up by double-digits, 44-33, and held on the rest of the way.

Next up, Bartlesville travels Tuesday to Sand Springs to finish up the regular season.

BOYS: Owasso 80, Bartlesville 20

This game followed an odd script. During the first few minutes, the underdog Bruins played Owasso even, thanks largely to a Riley Duong three-pointer.

But, like a lightning flash, Owasso extended its 6-5 lead to 20-5 by the end of the first quarter and 44-4 by halftime. Yep, that’s right — a 39-0 run by Owasso.The Bruins’ drought lasted until the score was 49-5, when Lucas Wilson tickled the cords for a free throw midway through the third period.

Nash Zervas, Trae Collins and Grant Clark also scored for Bartlesville in the third quarter. Owasso took a 64-11 lead into the final period.

Clark nailed a three-pointer to help the Bruins add nine points in the final period.

Clark was one of five senior players who have played their home finale. The list includes Eli Robertson, Jacob Veit, Clark, Duong and Cooper Wood. Wood had missed the entire season due to a football injury, but suited up as part of the starting five Friday and made a brief appearance.

Bartlesville (3-18) will be looking for a strong regular season finale when it plays Tuesday at Sand Springs.

GIRLS: Caney Valley 39, Chelsea 37

The Caney Valley Trojans have been one of the area’s hottest teams since early January. With this win, Caney Valley (14-7) improved to 12-1 in its last 13 games.

Chloe Scherman poured in 16 points, followed by Kensly Foreman with 12 to lead Caney Valley past Chelsea.

Myah Edwards added six points, followed by Amaya Toftee with four and Libby Thompson with one. Every Lady Jordan who scored is a senior.

Chelsea proved to be a rugged foe to shed. The visiting team led by one point going into the final period, 28-27.

Foreman revved up for eight points in the fourth quarter and Edwards tallied a vital three-pointer to help hoist Caney Valley to the come-from-behind win.

“I was overall pleased with our team effort,” Caney Valley coach Deric Longan said. “At the start of the game, Chelsea was raining threes on us … but our girls did a fantastic job of responding.”

In addition to chalking up another win, Caney Valley also clinched the conference title with a perfect record. This is the third straight year the Lady Trojans have ruled the conference and the second season in a row to go unbeaten in the conference.

BOYS: Wesleyan Christian 68, Shidler 14

Believe it or not, no Wesleyan Christian players scored in double figures. Led by Ty Cloud and Kael Siemers with nine points each, 13 of the 15 WCS players contributed scoring.

The victory propelled WCS (20-3) into the district title game on their home court.

“We came out really well in the second half,” WCS head coach Steven Cooks said. “We kind of got complacent in the second quarter, but we came out in the third quarter and did a good job.”

BOYS: Welch 42, Copan 40

The distant between winning and losing is sometimes only a wrinkle of space.

Copan barely missed a trey that might have changed the result in Friday’s Class B district playoff opener hosted by Wesleyan Christian School.

This was the first time Copan and Welch faced each other this season.

“Tryston Easter and Logan Guess played their butts off,” said Copan head coach Kolton Stacy. “Those two kept us in the game.” The pair finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Easter launched a trey that barely missed and could have tied the game, Stacy noted. Copan then had to foul Welch, which made both free throws up by five, 42-37. Copan finished the scoring with a three-pointer by Guess.

“We had a good season (16 wins),” Stacy said. “But, it was a terrible way to end it.”

Correction

The E-E incorrectly reported Thursday that Wesleyan Christian School played in the district tournament.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Area hoops: Owasso sweeps BHS; WCS advances; Copan season ends