Washington defeated Adair 66-33 Saturday morning to claim the Class 3A State Championship.

They won it at OG&E Coliseum in the first year for the building to host State Championships.

It’s the second time the school has won back-to-back titles in girls basketball, with the other being 2003-2004 under Rocky Clarke.

The Warriors carved up the  rest of the field on their way to claiming the gold ball.

They opened the State Tournament with a 60-43 win over Metro Christian.

The Warriors got off to a slow start in the game and tailed 26-25 at halftime.

“We came out and kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” said head coach Kale Simon. “We missed layups and didn’t play very good defense and just never could get into a flow on offense early.”

But the Warriors picked it up in the second half and put the pedal down, out-scoring Metro by 18 points in the half.

Freshman Bentli Brantley led Washington in scoring with 15 points.

Hadley Beard was also in double figures scoring with 11.

Alva

Washington downed Alva 67-46 in the semi-final game.

The Warriors got off to a faster start but Simon felt like they still could have extended their lead.

“We played pretty well in the first half but we could have had a bigger lead,” Simon said.

Briley Beller opened the second half with a big three pointer which allowed Washington to seize the momentum.

Sister Kelby Beller hit a trey early in the third quarter and Washington was rolling.

“We talked about winning the first three minutes of the second half when we were in the locker room,” Simon said. And I thought we did that.”

Brantley and Kelby Beller paced the team in scoring with 14 points apiece.

All together, 11 Warriors scored in the game.

Adair

Washington steam rolled Adair in the finals on the way to a 66-33 victory.

“We clicked on all cylinders in the game,” Simon said. “We were guarding well in the full court and in the half court. And we don’t always have to hit threes to win, but when we do we’re pretty hard to beat.”

The Warriors came out on a mission and had Adair down 26-2 after the first quarter.

Washington hit nine threes in the game, eight in the first half.

“We came out the aggressor and saw the habits we’ve been working on come to fruition,” Simon said. “We got to enjoy some of the fruits of our labor. We had five girls on the floor contributing at all times.”

Preslee Johnson led the team in scoring with 16 points.

Kelby Beller (13) and Beard (11) were also in double figures.

The Warriors finished the season 31-1.

They were focused on perfecting the small things throughout the season.

“We always say that great habits, discipline, consistency, work effort and sacrifice are never as rewarding as you want in the short term, but they’re always more rewarding than you expect in the long term. This team is reaping what they sowed since Day 1.”

Seniors

Washington will graduate five seniors from the program after this season – Kelby Beller, Preslee Johnson, Laney Gay, Jayden Wells and manager Dorothy Shepard.

Simon said the group’s legacy will be felt immensely.

“They’re just going to be the standard moving forward,” he said.

On four-year starters Kelby Beller and Preslee Johnson he didn’t mince words.

“They are two girls who were relied on since Day 1 and were able to take the grind and relentless hard coaching from me,” Simon said. “They sure didn’t make it any easier on girls coming behind them because when someone says it’s too tough I can say ‘those two girls took hard coaching from the beginning.’”

He also had high praise for Wells and her role on the team.

“Jayden was our most dependable player for about a 15 game stretch this season,” he said. “She didn’t get the publicity some of the others did but she MVP’d in her role as much as anyone this season. People underestimate the value she brought to our team.”

And last but not least, Simon heaped high praise on Laney Gay.

“Laney goes from being the first person off the bench as a freshman and playing valuable minutes in the State tournament  to being a senior who was not in the daily rotation,” Simon said. “Yet, Laney will go down as one of the most sacrificial and hardest working players that I’ve ever coached. ”

Simon said this year’s seniors  represent each tier of a team.

“Some players get a lot of attention, the next tier is a role player and the final tier – the most important tier – is someone like Laney who is willing to sacrifice her time for the betterment of her team. Those seniors are the standard.”

Notes

Kelby Beller was named to the All-Tournament team and named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Brantley was also named to the All-Tournament team.