Muldrow sweeps Stigler for district championships

The Muldrow High School basketball teams took the first step on the way to a state championship as they swept the Stigler squads to give both the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs district titles in Friday night’s Class 4A District Tournament at Roger Sharp Activity Center.

The Lady Bulldogs began the night with a 46-31 victory over the Lady Panthers, then the ’Dogs held off the Panthers for a 64-60 win.

Both the Lady Bulldogs (17-8) and the Bulldogs (19-6) will play one last week at Roger Sharp Activity Center as they will be the host teams for this week’s Class 4A Regional Tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs will play Locust Grove, which knocked off Muldrow 48-35 in the championship semifinals of the Checotah Crossroads Classic on Jan. 24, at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Class 4A Regional Tournament championship semifinals, with the winner meeting the Sallisaw-Broken Bow winner for not only the regional title at 6 p.m. Saturday but also automatically earning a berth into next week’s area tournament in Okmulgee.

The Muldrow-Locust Grove loser will meet the Poteau-Wagoner winner at 1 p.m. Friday in the regional consolation semifinals in Muldrow, with the winner playing for the regional consolation championship at 1 p.m. Saturday in Muldrow for the right to advance to next week’s Class 4A Area Tournament.

The ’Dogs will meet Stilwell, which got the NOAA Conference sweep over Muldrow this season, in the Class 4A Regional Tournament championship semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Roger Sharp Activity Center, with the winner meeting the Wagoner-Broken Bow winner at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Muldrow for not only the regional championship but automatically will advance to next week’s area tournament in Okmulgee regardless of the outcome.

The Muldrow-Stilwell loser will meet the Sallisaw-Poteau winner at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the regional consolation semifinals in Muldrow, with the winner playing for the regional consolation title at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and a berth into next week’s Class 4A Area Tournament in Okmulgee.

GIRLS

MULDROW 46, STIGLER 31

After a 3-point basket by Stigler’s Tatum Rowland knotted the game at 5-all with 5:22 left in the first quarter, the Lady Bulldogs ended the period on a 9-1 run, capped by birthday girl London Hardin’s basket with 33 seconds left in the quarter, to put Muldrow ahead 14-6 going into the second period.

Muldrow’s lead grew to as great as 15 points at 28-13 on Danica Tune’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds left before halftime.

With a second left, the Lady Panthers (9-12) got a trey from Caitlin Lovett, who shared gamehigh honors with 11 points, to cut Stigler’s deficit to 28-16 at the half.

A triple by Maddy Pruett cut Stigler’s deficit to 34-24 with 2:18 left in the third quarter, but that would be as close as Stigler got.

A 6-0 run by Muldrow, capped by Maysi Fields’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer with three-tenths of a second left in the period, gave the Lady Bulldogs a 40-24 lead going into the fourth quarter.

“I’m really proud of my kids,” Muldrow girls coach Jana Armer said. “We didn’t play real well, but we still found a way to score and win. Again, it’s a testament to those seniors (Tune, Maysi Fields, Jensi Fields, Chloee Clark and Emmalee Short).”

The Lady Bulldogs find themselves just three wins away from a state-tournament berth.

“We’re three wins away,” Armer said. “It’s going to be a tough road, but that’s exactly what we expected. We didn’t expect anything easy. We haven’t had anything handed to us all year. We’re not going to start now. We want to work for it. That’s what we’re built on. We don’t mind the hard work.”

For the game, Jensi Fields shared game-high honors with Lovett with 11 points to lead Muldrow, followed by Maysi Fields and Kayla Ellingberg with eight points each, Tune with six points, Hardin and Kilah Ellingberg each with five points, Gracie Prewett with two points and Clark with a free throw.

BOYS

MULDROW 64, STIGLER 60

Trailing 16-12 after a period and 19-12 after Stigler’s Cade Parker hit a 3-point basket with 7:32 left before halftime, the Bulldogs came out of hibernation as they went on a 16-0 run, capped by a basket by E.J. Zanders with 2:38 remaining in the first half, to put Muldrow ahead for good at 28-19.

After a pair of free throws by Stigler’s Jackson McCarter cut his team’s deficit to 2821 with 2:30 remaining before halftime, the ’Dogs ended the first half on an 8-0 run, capped by a conventional three-point play by Teaguen Collins with 50 seconds left, put Muldrow up 36-21 at the half.

The Bulldogs built as great as a 16-point lead twice in the third quarter, with the last time being 46-30 on a pair of Parker Sevenstar free throws with 39 seconds left in the period. A buzzer-beating 3-pointer by DaVohn Hall with a second left gave Muldrow a 49-35 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

However, the Panthers (1112) would not go down without clawing their way back into the contest. Three free throws by McCarter, who scored a gamehigh 31 points, with 40 seconds left capped a 25-14 run to cut Muldrow’s lead to 63-60, but Stigler got no closer.

“The goal was coming out, winning the game,” Muldrow boys coach Terry Collins said. “I knew it was going to be a tough game. They (the Panthers) play hard. They kept knocking down shots. We were just a little lethargic, but we fought it out.”

Although the ’Dogs find themselves just three victories away from making the Class 4A State Tournament, Collins knows the path will not get any easier.

“Taking that first step (a district championship) is big, but it’s going to be a tough road. We’re going to have to go through some good teams. It’s just going to come down to us playing well, and get some luck on our side, too.”

For the game, Muldrow put a quartet of players into double figures, led by Collins with 16 points, D.J. Massey with 13 points, Sevenstar with 12 points and Hall with 10 points. Jesse Kilinc scored eight points, followed by Zanders and DeShawn Willson with two points each and Jaxson Anstine with a free throw.