Lady Warriors Advance

Washington’s Lady Warriors won the consolation bracket in the Class 3A Regional to advance to the Area Tournament in Ada tonight (Thursday).

Washington will face off with Community Christian at 6 p.m. in the tournament’s first round.

The Lady Warriors dropped the first round of the Regional at the hands of Marlow, 53-32 but rebounded to bump both Lexington and Comanche from post-season play.

Sophomore Tinley Lucas led the Lady Warriors in the final two games that vaulted them into the Area Tourney with 33 points in the two games.

She poured in 19 against Lexington including going 6-10 from the charity stripe.

Lucas backed that up with 14 in the Comanche contest a number matched by senior Laylin Scheffe.

Scheffe was right on the heels of Lucas against the Lady Bulldogs with 17. Sophomore Abby Wood knocked down a dozen and junior Mattie Richardson also finished in double digits with 11.

Richardson canned 12 points for Washington in the Comanche contest.

“I was real proud of the girls,” head coach Rocky Clarke said. “They played lights out.”

Washington takes a 16-10 record into the Area Tournament.

Boys

The Warriors ended post season play with losses to Marlow and Jones sandwiched around a 64-49 victory over Lexington.

The Warriors opened post-season play with Comanche and pinned a 48-34 loss on the visiting Indians.

“Our guys did a good job against Comanche,” said Warrior head coach TJ Scholz. “Comanche runs an awkward zone defense and we did a good job getting the ball inside and using our athleticism to get down the floor.”

Kobe Scott had a huge game for the Warriors with 15 points.

“Kobe played well in the last five games and rebounded well,” Scholz said. “All the guys were shooting well in the last five games. We had been waiting for the offense to come around.”

Washington played Marlow in the first round of the Regional tournament. They were defeated 39-32.

“We always know Marlow is going to be a dogfight,” said Scholz. “Every game we play against them is a tough, physical game.”

The Warriors matched the Outlaws’ intensity in the game but were unable to hit as many shots as Marlow.

“They’re a hard team to beat three times in one season. They outplayed us,” Scholz said. “We still had a chance to tie it up when we got an open look at a three with about a minute left. Now they’re one game away from making the State tournament.”

Cash Andrews was the leading scorer for Washington in the game with eight points.

The Warrior offense was running on all cylinders against Lexington in their consolation bracket match up. Washington soundly defeated the Bulldogs 64-49.

“I felt like our offense was really clicking against Lexington,” Scholz said. 

Luke Hendrix went off for 23 points in the game and Washington had a 20-point lead by halftime.

“We knew Luke was that type of returning player,” Scholz said. “He was our leading scorer from last year and his work ethic has been great this year.”

Washington’s final game of the season was a 57-54 loss to Jones in the finals of their consolation bracket.

“We played some really good basketball for three quarters,” Scholz said. “They played a zone and we picked it apart. Our offense was clicking.”

But Washington got sloppy with the ball late and turnovers would dash any hopes they had of reaching Area.

“Towards the end of the game we had some bad turnovers,” Scholz said. “We followed the game plan and had a 12-point lead in the third but we got loose with the basketball. Jones had a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter because of our turnovers.”

Washington was led in scoring by Kenneth Love III (14), Kobe Scott (13) and Luke Hendrix (12).

It was a disappointing end to the season for a team that was playing maybe its best basketball of the season.

“It’s emotional because we know we’re right there (on the verge of going deeper in the playoffs),” Scholz said. “We had a nine-game winning streak. We won 11 of the last 14 games. Our offense was clicking.”

The Warriors lose four seniors from this team. They are Ellis Tontz, Kenneth Love III, Kelton Schultz and Graham Schovanec.

“These guys were great teammates and great for me to coach,” said Scholz. “They are very polite and will be greatly missed. This whole team loved each other and they cared about each other. They wanted to keep playing for each other.”

Notes

For the season the Warrior defense held opposing offenses to 35% shooting and 42 points per game.