It was a rough return to the hardwood from enduring Mother Nature’s winter storm for the Checotah High School basketball teams as they each suffered NOAA Conference road losses to the host Roland squads last Friday night at Roland High School’s Ranger Dome.
The Lady Wildcats got the night started with a 60-24 loss to the Lady Rangers, then the ’Cats fell 81-49 to the Runnin’ Rangers.
GIRLS Roland 60, Checotah 24
The Lady Rangers (11-3 overall, 4-1 in NOAA Conference play) scored the game’s first five points before the Lady Wildcats (4-10, 1-4) got on the board on a basket by Daisy Prince to cut Checotah’s lead to 5-2 with 6:29 left in the first quarter. That ended up being as close as the Lady ’Cats got on this night.
The Lady Rangers went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-2 lead with 4:28 remaining in the period on Ryanne Nellie’s 3-point basket.
Back-to-back baskets by Kalleigh York and Addie Britt cut Checotah’s deficit to 10-6 with 3:15 left in the period. From there, it was all Roland.
The Lady Rangers ended the quarter with a 9-1 run as Roland’s Molly Carver hit a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer to give Roland a 19-7 lead after a period.
A 21-7 second quarter for the Lady Rangers upped their advantage to 40-14 as another buzzer-beating basket, this time by Roland’s Halle Freeman, capped off the half for the Lady Rangers to give Roland its biggest lead of the first half at the break.
After Roland took a 5616 lead into the final period, Adriana Moya gave the Lady Rangers their largest lead of the night at 42 points at 58– 16 with 7:42 left to play in the game.
In defeat, Carly Dismukes led Checotah with seven points, followed by York with five points, Prince with four points, Logan Dowdy and Kailynn Thrall with three points each and Addie Britt with two points.
BOYS Roland 81, Checotah 49 This one was all Runnin’ Rangers (15-0 overall, 5-0 in NOAA Conference play). Roland scored the game’s first 18 points before Checotah’s Cooper Cutbirth made conventional three-point play to cut the deficit for the Wildcats (3-14, 0-5) to 18-3 with 4:46 left in the first quarter.
The Runnin’ Rangers ended the period with a 14-2 run, capped by Damonte “Bubba” Owens’ three-point basket with 57 seconds left, to give Roland a 32-5 lead heading into the second quarter.
A basket by Roland’s Tae Smith with a second left before halftime gave the Runnin’ Rangers their largest lead of the first half at 37 points at 51-14 at the break.
The Runnin’ Rangers got their highest lead of the night with 34 seconds left in the third quarter as a basket by Derrick Allen put Roland ahead by 46 points at 68-22. Roland took a 68-26 lead into the fourth quarter.
In defeat, Traegan Duvall led the ’Cats with nine points, followed by Clyde Brassfield with eight points, Cutbirth with seven points, Weston Brown and Koyah Littleman with five points each, Hudson Pollard and Mason Collins each with four points, Gavin Walker with three points and Landynn Thomason and Levi Chapman with two points apiece.
