Sallisaw basketball teams end losing streaks to Muldrow, split with Checotah

It was a fantastic Friday night of basketball for the Sallisaw High School teams as they each ended losing skids to their county rivals and NOAA Conference foes from Muldrow.

The Lady Diamonds defeated the Lady Bulldogs 65-39 for their first win over Muldrow since Feb. 13, 2015, while the Black Diamonds rallied to defeat the Bulldogs 63-58 for their first victory over the ’Dogs since Sallisaw defeated Muldrow 5857 on Jan. 26, 2024, at Paul Post Field House.

Then, the Sallisaw squads made up their home conference games that were snowed out Jan. 27, and ended up splitting with the Checotah teams. The Lady Diamonds routed the Lady Wildcats 67-18, but the ’Cats ended up downing the Black Diamonds 57-45.

FRIDAY’S GAMES

GIRLS

SALLISAW 65, MULDROW 39

A basket by Muldrow’s Jaydin Dean cut the deficit for the Lady Bulldogs (10-8 overall, 4-3 in NOAA Conference play) to 8-5 with 3:35 left in the first quarter. It ended up being as close as the Lady Bulldogs got on this night.

The Black Diamonds (14-5, 6-1) ended the period with a 15-9 lead, and got as high as a 15-point lead in the second quarter on Sydney Weedon’s free throw with 6:21 left before halftime to put Sallisaw ahead 24-9.

The Lady Bulldogs cut their deficit to 27-22 on a 3-point basket by Tae Williams with 1:48 remaining in the first half, but the Lady Diamonds ended the first half on a 7-0 run, capped by Channing Wilson’s free throws with 31 seconds left in the first half, to put Sallisaw ahead 34-22 at the break.

The Lady Diamonds were in complete control in the second half, building as high as a 26-point lead, which proved to be the final score as JoLee Curson’s free throws with 23 seconds left to play put Sallisaw ahead 65-39.

“We shot the ball better than last time (in the Jan. 13 road 4340 loss to Muldrow),” Sallisaw Lady Diamonds coach Greg Pratt said. “We didn’t have as many breakdowns. When we had a breakdown last time, Muldrow made us pay. That was a good win for us.”

For the game, Sallisaw put a trio of players into double figures, led by Alayna Locust-Trammell’s game-high 19 points, followed by Hannah Palmer’s 13 points and Jaycie Cox’s 11 points. Wilson and Katelyn Carlton scored six points each, followed by Weedon and Emma Martin each with three points and Curson and Kaycie Girdner with two points apiece.

In defeat, Kilah Ellingberg, Kayla Ellingberg and Williams each scored nine points to lead Muldrow, followed by Emma Fields and Leni Cox with four points each and Dean and London Hardin with two points apiece.

BOYS

SALLISAW 63, MULDROW 58

Trailing 53-52 after Muldrow’s DeShawn Willson hit a basket with 3:34 left in the game, the Black Diamonds (10-9 overall, 3-4 in NOAA Conference play) ended the game with a 11-5 run to snatch away the win from the jaws of defeat.

“We have an extremely tough group of guys,” Sallisaw Black Diamonds coach Zac Rogers said. “Muldrow went on a good run because they are a very good team. They’re very talented and well coached. Our guys would not stop fighting. The effort from Brodi and Rowdi Nickell was unbelievable. Elijah Hill had his best defensive game. We gave him a really difficult matchup, and he answered the call. We want to be the hardest fighting team in the nation. Our guys really played up to that (Friday night).”

The first quarter saw two ties and four lead changes, with the Bulldogs (12-6, 6-1) taking a 19-18 lead after a period.

The ’Dogs opened the second quarter on a 13-2 run, capped by a basket by Parker Sevenstar, to give Muldrow its largest lead of the night at 32-20 with 1:32 left before halftime.

The Black Diamonds ended the first half with a 3-point basket by Brodi Nickell at the 1:17-mark and a basket by Rowdi Nickell with 21 seconds remaining in the first half to cut Muldrow’s advantage to 32-25 at the break.

After a 3-pointer by Muldrow’s Teaguen Collins to open the third quarter put the Bulldogs ahead 35-25, the Black Diamonds ended the period on a 19-6 run, capped by Rowdi Nickell’s trey with a second left in the period, to knot the game at 44-all entering the fourth quarter.

The first 4:26 of the final period saw two ties and four lead changes, with the final lead change being Willson’s hoop to give Muldrow a 53-52 lead, its last advantage of the night, with 3:34 left to play.

“They (the Black Diamonds) continued to play hard, and we just got flustered,” Muldrow Bulldogs coach Terry Collins said. “We tried to make a 10-point shot. We just needed to take a shot at a time. We needed to take care of the ball and use the advantages we had as far as running the offense.”

Although the Bulldogs came up short, there was a silver lining in the clouds as Collins, the son of the coach, hit his 1,000th point in his prep career on a free throw with 29 seconds in the third quarter to put the ’Dogs ahead 44-40 before the Black Diamonds scored the period’s final four points to send the game into the fourth quarter tied at 44-all.

“I’m glad he has showed the capability of being able to score those many points for a career,” the Muldrow coach said about his son’s feat. “It’s gratifying to be able to witness it.”

For the game, Brodi Nickell led all scorers with a game-high 23 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Rowdi Nickell with 14 points, Tae Muskrat-Flynn with 10 points, Grayson Griffey with six points, Asa Ulrich with five points, Alex Gregory with three points and Luke Warner with two points.

In defeat, Muldrow also put a threesome into double figures, led by Collins and Sevenstar with 17 points each, while Jesse Kilinc scored 10 points. D.J. Massey had six points, followed by Willson with five points and Jermauree Palmer with three points.

MONDAY’S GAMES

GIRLS

SALLISAW 67, CHECOTAH 18

After falling behind 2-0 on a basket by Nakia Carr with 6:36 left in the first quarter, the Lady Diamonds ended the period on a 21-3 ruin, capped by a pair of Sydney Weedon free throws with eight seconds left in the quarter, to give Sallisaw a 21-5 lead after the first eight minutes.

Things just continued to roll on for the Lady Diamonds from there, and got worse for the Lady Wildcats (4-13, 1-7).

The Lady Diamonds used a 22-2 second quarter to put them ahead 43-7 at the half.

A 3-point basket by Addison “A.J.” Johnson with 19 seconds left in the third quarter gave Sallisaw its biggest lead of the night at 63-12, which was the score heading into the final period.

The last two minutes of the game saw the running clock instituted.

“We shot the ball well against Muldrow, and one of the things you want to see is continuing is to shoot the ball well,” Sallisaw Lady Diamonds coach Greg Pratt said. “I think a lot of our other facets are peaking at the right time. It doesn’t matter what it says across the (opposing team’s) jersey. We need to go do ‘us.’ The game you’re playing then is the most important. We need to play and take care of business, and I thought we did.”

For the game, Katelyn Carlton scored a game-high 11 points and Jaycie Cox added 10 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Emma Martin with nine points, Alayna Locust-Trammell with eight points, Hannah Palmer with seven points, JoLee Curson and Channing Wilson with six points each, Weedon with four points, Johnson with three points, Phebi McMurtry with two points and Kaycie Girdner with a free throw.

After playing Tuesday night at Roland, the Lady Diamonds will make up their Jan. 30 road game at Poteau at 6 p.m. Thursday before traveling for the conference rematch at Checotah at 6 p.m. Friday. If the Lady Diamonds win out, they will be NOAA Conference champions, which has not happened in quite some time.

“Now, we turn the page and get ready for Roland,” Pratt said. “If we do (take care of business against the Lady Rangers), it will put us right there for the conference (title), and it’s been a long time since Sallisaw has had that opportunity. It’s in our hands.”

BOYS

CHECOTAH 57, SALLISAW 45

Unlike in Friday night’s big comeback win over Muldrow, such a comeback was not in the cards for the Black Diamonds.

The Wildcats (5-15 overall, 2-6 in NOAA Conference play) got out to a fast start, leading at one point by 10 points at 14-4 after Rowan Chapman’s free throw with 1:14 left in the opening quarter.

A pair of free throws by Hudson Pollard with 23 seconds left in the period gave the ’Cats a 17-9 lead after the first quarter.

The Wildcats built as great as a 19-point lead as a pair of free throws by Landyn Thomason with 31 seconds left before halftime put Checotah ahead 31-12. The ’Cats took a 31-17 lead into the locker rooms at the half.

However, just like against Muldrow on Friday night, the Black Diamonds tried to rally in the second half.

A basket by Asa Ulrich cut the Checotah lead to 4032 with 1:25 left in the third quarter, but the Wildcats ended up taking a 45-32 lead into the final period.

The Black Diamonds got to within four points at 4844 on Tae Muskrat-Flynn’s free throws with 1:35 left to play in the game, but Sallisaw got no closer.

“I was really proud my guys’ effort,” Sallisaw Black Diamonds coach Zac Rogers said. “I thought they played extremely hard. It was just one of those nights. Checotah came out and matched our energy and played hard. (Checotah boys) Coach Malcom Warrior does such a great job with those guys.”

Ulrich scored 12 points and Muskrat-Flynn added 10 points to lead Sallisaw, followed by Brodi Nickell with nine points, Rowdi Nickell with seven points, Grayson Griffey with three points which included an alley-oop slam dunk, Luke Warner with two points and Austin Edgemon and Gunner Griffey with a free throw apiece.