A number of players from the Waurika and Ryan basketball squads were honored by the Southern Eight Conference coaches recently.
Madison Roberson of Waurika was named the most valuable player in the conference for 2018. She led the Lady Eagles in scoring and rebounding and they claimed the Southern Eight Conference regular season crown with a perfect 5-0 mark.
Asia Smith was also an all-conference selection for the Lady Eagles. Smith was the second leading scorer and rebounder for Waurika.
Lily York, a sophomore for the Ryan Cowgirls, was selected as the co-offensive player of the year along with Grandfield’s Matti Clemmer.
Another sophomore, Juliet Spangler, was also named to represent Ryan on the all-conference squad.
The defensive player of the year honors went to Hollie Babel of Geronimo. She helped lead the Lady Blue Jays to a 14-15 record including a district title.
On the boys’ side, Waurika’s Cache Arellano was named to the all-conference team. Arellano was the scoring leader for the Eagles averaging 10.3 points a game and was also the leading rebounder averaging 8.3 rebounds a game.
No other boys from Waurika or Ryan were named to the squad all-conference squad.
The most valuable player of the conference for 2018 was Geronimo’s D’Marcus Crabtree. Crabtree was the ringleader on an experienced Geronimo squad that swept all its Southern Eight opponents during the regular season to claim the conference title.
The offensive player of the year was Geronimo’s Luke Riley.
Riley and Crabtree led the Bluejays to an outstanding season. The Blue Jays finished with a district title and were third in the Apache Tournament and the consolation champions at the Comanche County Tournament.
Geronimo closed the season with a 21-8 record after dropping a one-point decision to Sterling in the consolation bracket finals of the regional tourney. Riley led the Blue Jays in scoring against Sterling with 11 points, while Crabtree finished with 10 points in the season-ending loss.
Securing the defensive player of the year honors was Big Pasture’s Austin Frieling. The Rangers won a district title and fell to Lookeba-Sickles in the regional tourney finals last Saturday night but remain alive for another week.
Big Pasture opens area tourney play today (Thursday) at Cache and they will face Fox.
The Rangers managed a 4-1 mark in the Southern Eight Conference which was good for runner up honors.
The annual Southern Eight Conference All-Star game will be held Monday (February 26) at Temple. The girls’ contest will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the boys’ game to follow.
All the all-conference squad members will be competing in the game along with players selected as a conference all-star.
Representing the Cowgirls in addition to York and Spangler will be Samantha Good and the lone Cowgirl senior, Kenzie Lewis.
Joining Roberson and Smith from Waurika will be Lexie Streeter.
The girls’ team will be coached by Ryan’s Steve Spangler and Waurika’s Kalee Baxter.
Three Eagles will join their teammate Arellano in the game. They are Seth Cathey, Kevin Garcia and Turner Mora.
Representing the Cowboys in the game will be Dawson Tomberlin, a senior for the Cowboys, and junior Skylar Parkhill.
The conference was down somewhat in basketball this season especially on the girls’ side.
No girls’ team finished with a winning record with Geronimo leading the pack with 14 wins on the season. Big Pasture girls managed a 10-17 record and were the only other girls’ squad to record at least 10 wins.
Three boys’ teams posted winning records for the 2018 campaign. Big Pasture is the only team still alive and will finish with a winning record. Geronimo posted the best record of the conference teams with a 21-8 mark, while Grandfield also had a winning season at 14-11.
The conference consisted of only six schools this past year – Temple, Big Pasture, Geronimo, Ryan, Waurika and Grandfield. Frederick will join the Southern Eight Conference next season.
