Super 5 girls basketball: How Keeley Parks stepped 'to the forefront' for Norman
The strangely quiet atmosphere spoke volumes to Keeley Parks.
As she walked through Norman’s locker room and stepped onto the court for her junior basketball season, the drastic changes sank in. Ten players had graduated. She no longer heard their motivational words echoing through the gym.
Her team would have to rally around the lone returning varsity starter, a 5-foot-11 guard with a propensity for engineering second-half runs.
The Tigers were counting on Parks.
“She became more of a vocal leader,” said Norman coach Frankie Parks, her father. “And that’s just never been her because she’s always played with the older kids, to where it was almost like, ‘Keep your mouth closed. Don’t make the older kids mad.’ This year, she stepped out of that. She really had to step to the forefront.”
Parks had a prolific season in every statistical category, averaging 26.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 5.6 steals per game. She posted 13 double-doubles, including five with double-digit steals, to guide Norman to a 17-10 record and advance one game away from the Class 6A state tournament.
Her season low was 16 points.
The tremendous numbers played a role in Parks’ selection as The Oklahoman’s 2024 Super 5 girls basketball Player of the Year, and they’re only part of the story.
After building confidence through challenging herself, Parks instilled it in her teammates, starting with the season opener against eventual state champion Putnam West.
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“I was excited, but most of our team was pretty nervous because they had never played varsity,” Parks said. “They’ve only really played JV and a couple minutes on varsity, so I had to bring them up and calm them down a little bit.”
Parks, who missed most of her freshman season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, had only one year of true varsity experience to draw upon. But she knew how to prove her mettle on the court, refusing to let formidable foes unnerve her.
In the second grade, she competed on a fifth-grade team, quickly learning fundamentals to keep up with the older kids. Then she spent three years as the lone girl in a boys league, earning a spot on the all-star team. As a sophomore, she starred on the senior-laden Norman team that reached the Class 6A championship game.
“Over time, as her game developed, we just started adding different pieces to her game,” Frankie Parks said. “That has allowed her to put all those pieces together now and be who she is.”
The Keeley Parks effect is an astounding phenomenon, like a rogue wave in the ocean. One minute, the waters are calm. Parks makes a few baskets but lies low, and an opponent gets a little comfortable with the lead.
Suddenly, Parks has all the momentum.
“I really want to focus on defense because that’s how I get things started,” Parks said.
She leaps for rebounds, intercepts passes and pries the ball from opponents. Those effort plays allow her to run in transition, and the points snowball.
It happened against Yukon, when she lifted Norman out of a 10-point deficit. It happened against Edmond Santa Fe, when she accounted for all but three of Norman’s 28 second-half points to secure a 42-37 comeback win. Then in the area tournament against Piedmont, she heaved the ball toward the basket for the crowd-wowing 3-pointer that forced overtime, eventually advancing with a 54-51 victory.
Before those feats, Parks had her 51-point game.
The week of Norman’s Joe Lawson Memorial Invitational in December, her parents worried whether she could play, suspecting she had a fractured finger. Although that wasn’t the case, Parks had to wear a finger splint after a doctor’s appointment.
It didn’t stop her from setting Norman’s single-game scoring record. Parks dropped 51 points in a 63-61 overtime win against Midwest City, surprising herself and her parents.
Ironically, in the best scoring game of her career, Parks didn’t need a sudden takeover.
“It just happened in the flow of the game,” Frankie Parks said. “There was nothing where you just thought, ‘Oh, man, she just scored the last 10 or 12 points in a row.’ It just was happening.”
With each achievement, the recognition increases. Parks is the Gatorade Oklahoma Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She checks in at No. 19 in ESPN’s national class of 2025 rankings. Numerous Division I programs, including Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, have extended scholarship offers.
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Parks, a five-star recruit, has big aspirations. In the near future, she wants to win a state title. For long-term goals, Parks draws inspiration from Caitlin Clark.
“She’s amazing,” Parks said. “I want to be her when I’m older.”
The Iowa superstar’s rise also reminds Parks and her family of the tremendous pressure a highly regarded athlete faces. Melissa Parks, her mother, said there’s a difference between nerves and pressure: Like Clark, Keeley doesn’t get nervous, but she senses the pressure that comes from high expectations.
To counter that, Keeley’s parents encourage her to enjoy the aspects of high school outside basketball. She’s a National Honor Society student who participates in school-wide fundraisers and enjoys socializing with friends.
She’s also a leader who continues to find her voice.
At the end of the season, her father had a proud moment. The season had just ended with an area loss to Mustang, but late in the game, he noticed his reserved daughter expanding her comfort zone. Parks spoke with conviction in the huddle, rallying everyone at once.
“From a vocal standpoint, she had said things here and there to the girls, on the floor and individually,” Frankie Parks said. “But (with the) group as a whole, to take the initiative and say, basically, ‘Let’s go compete,’ that was that part we’ve been looking for throughout the year. We know she’s growing.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Super 5 girls basketball: Keeley Parks steps to 'forefront' for Norman
