The boys’ and girls’ basketball teams struggled with their consistency in losses to Elmore City on Dec. 2 and Empire on Dec. 5.

Ben Fisher scored 25 points, and Langstyn McClendon and Sloan Jackson added 10 points each in a 56-54 home loss to Elmore City.

The boys led 27-18 at halftime and 40-38 after three quarters, but poor shooting and sloppy play down the stretch —nine turnovers in the fourth — hurt the Bulldogs, coach Jackson Embry said.

“We let that one slip away,” he said. “It was just one of those games where we turned the ball over and they got a lot of points off of turnovers.”

The Dec. 5 game, a 71-50 loss at Empire, was one Embry would like to just as soon forget.

“That might have been one of the worst losses I’ve ever taken,” he said.

Empire shot 82% from the field and 63% from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs even made all but one of their free throws.

“Their nets were scorching,” Embry said. “I’ve never seen a team get that hot and stay that hot.”

Wayne (1-3) committed 13 turnovers and made just seven of 21 free throws.

Fisher led the team in scoring with 19.

“We usually do the small things right,” he said. “In that game we didn’t. We turned the ball over too much and missed too many free throws. We played hard; but they were on fire. Anytime you shoot 63% from three and 82% from the field it’s going to be pretty hard to beat ‘em.”

Girls

The girls’ team also dropped a close one to Elmore City, losing 51-49.

The game featured 19 lead changes and 43 turnovers by the Bulldogs, who still managed to lead by a point with 30 seconds left.

Elmore City knocked down a 3-point shot to take the lead, and Embry called timeout with 24 seconds to go.

“We’re going to go for the last shot, and we let a pass go right through our hands out of bounds, and we’ve got to play the foul game after that,” he said.

Freshman Natalie Knobloch led the Bulldogs with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and junior Taelyn Ringwald added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The girls faced a tall task against Empire, the No. 6 ranked team in Class A.

The teams were tied at halftime and Empire led by six points at the end of three quarters.

Foul trouble made it difficult for Wayne to keep it close after that, and Empire prevailed 51-32.

Point guard Audra Watts, the team’s second-best player, fouled out for the second straight game, and guard Maddie Moreno and Knoblach both got into foul trouble.

“Taelyn was the only consistent starter on the floor in the fourth quarter,” he said. “And it kind of got away from us and we end up losing by 19. We played really well through three quarters.

Ringwald scored a team-high 15 points while Knoblach pulled down 13 rebounds to go with four points.

The Bulldogs’ performance against a top-tier team got the attention of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, which ranked Wayne (2-2) No. 23 out of 64 teams in the latest rankings released Dec. 8, Embry said.

“The final score didn’t show what the game was,” he said.