It was one and done for the Waurika basketball teams at the Class A District Tournament last weekend at Ft. Cobb.
The Lady Eagles lost a nail biter to Ringling, 40-38, while the Eagles fell to the Blue Devils, 53-39, last Friday night.
Both were first-round games and the losses marked the end of the season for the Waurika roundballers.
The two Ringling teams fell to the host, Ft. Cobb-Broxton, in the district finals, but advanced to the consolation bracket of the regional tournament that begins today (Thursday).
In the girls’ contest, the Lady Eagles and Lady Blue Devils battled back and forth throughout the first half.
Ringling held a 15-13 lead after the first quarter, but the Lady Eagles rallied and managed a 25-22 advantage heading into the intermission.
The Lady Eagles lost the lead early in the third quarter, but Lexie Streeter’s three-pointer gave Waurika a 35-29 lead – the largest lead of the game for the Lady Eagles.
Ringling narrowed the gap by hitting two free throws, but Madison Roberson converted on a single charity toss to put the Lady Eagles back in front by five at 36-31.
A layup and free throw by Kelsea Thompson helped Ringling close the gap to 36-34 late in the third period and Mariah Martin canned a layup for the Lady Blue Devils to tie the score at 36-36.
Two free throws by Sydney Southward gave Ringling a two-point lead heading into the final frame, 38-36.
The fourth quarter both teams went ice cold from the field and committed numerous turnovers.
Waurika’s Madison Dees hit one of two free throws to narrow the deficit to 38-37, but Ringling’s Kassidy Perkins converted a layup to put Ringling in front, 40-37.
Roberson got the Lady Eagles’ final point with under a minute to play to close the gap to 40-38, but that was the end of the rally for Waurika,
Roberson led the Eagles with 19 points, while Asia Smith contributed 10 tallies.
The Lady Eagles shot only 31.7% from the field for the game, but the Lady Blue Devils were not much better at 39.5%. Waurika held a huge advantage in points in the paint outscoring the Lady Blue Devils, 20-0.
The Lady Eagles finish the season with a 6-12 mark.
In the boys’ game that followed, Ringling jumped out to an 18-6 lead in the first quarter and held the Eagles off the rest of the way as the two squads battled on even terms.
The Blue Devils maintained the lead at the half, 29-17, and the Eagles could not cut into the deficit during the third and fourth quarters.
The Eagles suffered from poor shooting all night.
Waurika was only 18% from beyond the three-point line and only 28.3% overall.
It was not much better at the free throw line as the Eagles hit only seven of 17 charity tosses for 41%.
Waurika also committed 17 turnovers during the game and Ringling converted those miscues into 14 points.
Meanwhile, Ringling was shooting at a 49% clip and hit 37.5% from beyond the arc.
Cache Arellano led the Eagles with 22 points including two buckets from long range. He also had five steals and seven rebounds. Kevin Garcia also had seven rebounds for the Eagles.
SEASON WRAP UP: The 6-12 record by the Lady Eagles broke a string of winning seasons….The Lady Eagles failed to advance to the regional tourney for the first time since 2015…Waurika girls are now 38-48 in district tournament play in school history….The Lady Eagles hold a 4-3 advantage over Ringling in district tournament games….The Eagles finished with only four wins after going 12-12 in 2017….The Eagles hold a 70-61 mark in district tourney games since the first appearance in 1922….Waurika and Ringling have met 10 times in district tournaments with each team winning five games…The 2018 season marked the third stragith season the Eagles have failed to advance out of the district tournament.
