Roland teams sweep Sallisaw in home openers
It was a good night for the Roland High School basketball teams in their home openers against county and NOAA Conference rival Sallisaw on Tuesday night at the Ranger Dome.
The night started with the Lady Rangers getting their first win of the season, downing the Lady Diamonds 54-43, then the Runnin’ Rangers took care of the Black Diamonds 75-54.
GIRLS
ROLAND 54, SALLISAW 43
Trailing 36-34 after three quarters, the Lady Rangers (1-2 overall, 1-0 in NOAA Conference play) took control of the game in the final period, outscoring the Lady Diamonds (2-1, 0-1) in the fourth quarter 20-7 to win going away.
“I don’t think we were ready to go last week,” Roland coach Scott Nelke said. “We kind of got an eye opener, but the competition was good (Tuesday) night. They’re a good basketball team. It took us a while to get control of the game. We’ve got some newcomers, and we’re going to figure it out eventually. It just takes a little bit of time.”
After a 3-point basket by Sallisaw’s Alayna Locust-Trammell put the Lady Diamonds ahead 8-7 with 2:16 left in the first quarter, the Lady Rangers ended the period with a 5-0 run, capped by Haven Freeman’s basket with 27 seconds remaining, to put Roland ahead 12-8 going into the second quarter.
The Lady Rangers saw their lead swell to eight points at 24-16 on Halle Freeman’s basket with 26 seconds remaining before halftime, but Sallisaw’s Kayli Macon hit a halfcourt buzzer-beating 3-pointer as time expired to cut the Roland lead to 24-19 at halftime.
Back-to-back baskets by Kayli Macon and Palmer capped a 10-4 run for the Lady Diamonds to give Sallisaw a 29-28 lead with 2:32 left in the third quarter.
A pair of Halle Freeman free throws with 32 seconds remaining in the period capped a 6-4 Roland run to put the Lady Rangers ahead 3433.
However, for the second straight quarter, a Sallisaw Lady Diamond struck again as time expired as Hannah Palmer hit a trey as the buzzer sounded to give Sallisaw a 36-34 lead after three quarters.
“It was a really good third quarter for us,” Sallisaw coach Eric Carr said. “I thought we really scored the ball well in the third quarter. Last year, we couldn’t score consistently at times. We had a really good third quarter, but in the fourth quarter we missed some shots. We had some bad turnovers. We had a few bad possessions and let it snowball. I think Kayli getting in foul trouble in the fourth quarter was huge for us. She’s such a difference maker, and they took her out of the game on a couple of weak fouls. In the end, they got the momentum. We couldn’t shut them down and get the buckets we needed. Overall, we’re closer to where we want to be than we were at this time last year for sure.”
For the game, Haven Freeman led all scorers with a game-high 23 points to lead Roland, followed by Halle Freeman with 14 points, Ryanne Nelke with 13 points and Molly Carver, playing against her former team, with three points.
In defeat, Palmer scored 19 points and Macon added 12 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Locust-Trammell with six points, Channing Wilson with four points and Sydney Weedon with two points.
BOYS
ROLAND 75, SALLISAW 54
A 3-point basket by Sallisaw’s Cooper Cox put the Black Diamonds (1-2 overall, 0-1 in NOAA Conference play) ahead 3-0 with 7:28 left in the first quarter. It proved to their lone lead of the night.
The Runnin’ Rangers (3-0, 1-0) ended the period with a 7-2 run to take a 7-5 lead after the opening quarter.
A 24-13 second quarter upped Roland’s advantage to 31-18 at halftime as the Runnin’ Rangers started getting hot with their shooting as the period progressed.
The closest the Black Diamonds got in the second half was 10 points as a 3-point basket by Tae-Muskrat Flynn cut the Sallisaw deficit to 37-27 with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter. Roland took a 59-39 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Runnin’ Rangers got their lead to as great as 25 points on two occasions in the final period, the last time at 70-45 with 4:59 left in the game on a 3-pointer by Mason Kemp.
“In the second quarter, we got pretty hot there,” Roland coach Eddie Lewis said. “Early on, both teams were taking good shots, but neither team was hitting in the first quarter. We made a little run there and got hot. We made a lot of good plays. We shared the ball pretty good and moved the ball on offense pretty good. Sallisaw kept coming at us. We got to do a little better job on defense, but we came out with the win.”
“They’re extremely talented,” first-year Sallisaw coach Zac Rogers said. “They’re well coached. They made some tough shots. I didn’t hate our defense … they’re just talented players. I got to put our guys in better (defensive) spots and kind of help out a little bit more defensively. I thought we played extremely hard … I just have to put them in better spots.”
For the game, Damonte Owens scored a gamehigh 26 points and Kemp added 22 points to lead Roland, followed by Buck Triplett and Landon Fowler with nine points each, Kade Shook with five points and Raesean Perryman with four points.
In defeat, Muskrat-Flynn scored 22 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Cooper Carter with nine points, Cox and Cooper Jackson with seven points each, Brodi Nickell with five points and Jackson Harris and Treston Oliver with two points apiece.
