The Poteau Pirates came out on top of a shootout Friday night against the Checotah Wildcats (4-15) in a 69-57 victory. Poteau came out on fire as they scored 20 points in the first half to end the first period 20-8. But the Wildcats came out and scored 21 points in the second period on the heels of Elijah Thomas, R.J. Womack, Tyler Orman, and Cooper Culbreath. The Wildcats found themselves trailing 31-29.

It was nip-n-tuck in the second half. Womack had a good game defensively and grabbed several offensive rebounds that gave the Wildcats second shot chances. Checotah out-scored Poteau 16-15 in the third period. The Pirates exploded in the fourth period as they took advantage of open shots and shooting long perimeter buckets as they outscored Checotah 23-12 to seal a 69-57 win.

Checotah head coach Malcolm Warrior had four players in doubledigits in Elijah Thomas 11, Hudson Pollard 13, Tyler Orman 12, Cooper Culbreath ten and RJ Womack added six points.

Checotah crushes Black Diamonds

The Checotah Wildcats used great defense and rebounding to defeat the Sallisaw Black Diamonds 50-40. The Wildcats were led by R.J. Womack, who was the only Wildcat in double digits with ten points. Womack and Elijah Thomas were successful in scoring from the low post and forcing turnovers. Checotah led 1413 after the first period but Sallisaw battled back in the second period as they led 22-21 at the halftime break.

It was a barrage of perimeter shooting for the Wildcats as they outscored the Black Diamonds 29-18 in the second to seal the victory. Elijah Thomas finished with 20 points, Womack ten and Tyler Orman added eight points in the victory.

“We needed a win. This team works hard and it was nice to see their hard work payoff,” Checotah head coach Malcolm Warrior said.

Sallisaw tops Lady Wildcats 44-36

It was a tight game with both teams tied at 6-6 to end the first period. In the second period the Lady Wildcats pushed the ball hard upcourt and took advantage of scoring in the low post to take a 16-10 lead into the halftime break. The second half was all Black Diamonds as they outscored Checotah 34-20. Aiyana Brewer led Checotah with 11 points, Madewell nine points, Nyah Cloud eight points, Ruby Folkner added five points in the loss.