Washington’s boys and girls basketball teams were putting in work of their own on the day the football claimed gold at State.

Second-year head coach Kale Simon’s girls team defeated Tishomingo, Kiowa and host Latta at the Latta Panther Classic on the way to winning the title.

The Warriors, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, are now 5-0 this season.

Tishomingo

They opened the tournament with a 68-18 win over Tishomingo.

Shelbie Caveness led the team in scoring with a game-high 11 points.

Breanna Lindert was also in double figures with 10 points.

Kiowa

Washington then defeated Kiowa 55-41 in the second game.

Kelby Beller had a team-high 15 points, followed by Preslee Johnson and Lindert with 10 points each.

Latta

Washington defeated Latta in the finals, 52-39, on Saturday.

Beller scored 17 and Lindert had 11 to lead the team.

Simon said he sees plenty of room for improvement out of his team.

“We’re still working on getting combinations of players on the floor who are successful together,” he said. “We still aren’t taking care of what I call the ‘one percent’. We’re still missing out on a few rebounds and shots aren’t going in. It’s just little things here and there that we need to do that we aren’t doing right now.”

The Warriors got a test Tuesday night when they squared off against Class 3A’s No. 4 team Jones, who beat the Warriors in the State finals last season.

The Warriors will continue to concentrate on the process of getting better and becoming the team they want to become.

“We have to be better at being disciplined in the chaos,” Simon said. “Right now we’re not finishing plays and making decisions that need to be made in the chaos of the game.”

Boys

Second-year head boys coach Trevor Smith’s team came up just short in the finals of their tournament.

They led by four points in the waning moments of the championship game against Latta but were unable to close the game out before the Panthers for overtime.

The Warriors weren’t able to get any offense going in overtime and were defeated 44-37.

Putnam Heights

Washington blew out Oklahoma City’s Putnam Heights Academy 76-36 in the opening game of the tournament.

Mason Adams led the team with 15 points followed by Teagen Foster with 13.

Silo

Washington then beat Silo 63-46.

Adams and Foster led the team in scoring again with 16 and 13 points, respectively.

Smith said his team is still looking for their identity as they break in a bunch of new faces.

“We are inexperienced,” he said. “Mason Adams and Jeremiah Tontz are back but the rest of the other guys didn’t really get any varsity experience. This group is still figuring out who will be in each role this season.”

So far shooting has been a little streaky but they are getting physical play across the board.

“Our strengths will be our physicality and rebounding,” Smith said. “The defense is pretty good so far too.”

The defense has been holding most teams under 50 points per game this season but the coach is looking for more consistency on offense.

“We hit 11 threes against Silo but turned around and went 1-9 from three against Latta,” Smith said.

He said the football players on the team returned to practice on Monday.

“We’ll get them caught up over Christmas Break,” Smith said. “We will be physical and athletic.”

The Warriors are replacing graduated seniors Cash Andrews, Hayden Hicks, Jaden Cornelius, Andrew McCalip, Danny Chavira and Sam Hedenberg.

Washington is ranked No. 13 in Class 3A and are 3-2 so far.