A Tournament of Firsts

FIRST
It’s what every player that headed to the state tournament wanted to accomplish. It also would be the way to describe the state basketball tournament weekend.
-The Union and Booker T. Washington girls won their FIRST ever titles.
-Verdigris’ Rotnei Clarke won his FIRST state championship and finished FIRST in the record books for career scoring.
-Pawnee’s Keiton Page is FIRST in regards to the records for points in state tournament games (138), career state tournament points (369), most points in a single season (1,287), and season scoring average (44.4).
6A Girls: Union-49 Sapulpa-48
How long has it been since the Union Lady Redskins have been in a state title game?
Well the current players weren’t even born when Union played in the 1987 title game.
But this Union squad didn’t let that or the fact that they were playing the defending state champs Sapulpa, led by McDonald’s All-American Alyssia Brewer.
The Lady Redskins were dominant at the free throw line making 26-of-32 as a team. Baylor signee and Union senior Lindsay Palmer made 13 of her 15 free throws and led the Lady Redskins with 20 points.
With 22 points and 19 rebounds, Brewer, the Gatorade Girls Basketball State Player of the Year, led the game in both categories. The Chieftains, however, were cold at the charity stripe making only 6-of-14. While Union’s Carrington Fox came off the bench and scored all of her 10 points in the second half. The 49-48 win gave the Lady Redskin basketball program its first ever state title.
6A Boys: Memorial-55 Putnam City North-46
Tulsa Memorial finished what was an unbelievable state tournament run. After losing to Union in Class 6A area play, the No.2 Chargers, who had a 13 game streak at the time, were left to win or go home.
And win they did.
After beating Stillwater to punch their ticket to the state tournament the Chargers were left to play No.1 Putnam City, led by junior star Xavier Henry, who averaged nearly 27 points a game. But Memorial was able to hold Henry to nine points on 2 of 10 shooting. The Chargers won 40-38 behind the scoring of Blaise Staab, who led Memorial with 15 points in the first-round game.
After a 35-32 victory over defending champions Midwest City in the semifinals, the Chargers faced Putnam City North in the championship game. Dominick Cornelius led Memorial in scoring for the championship game with 15 points. Brian Debose came off the bench scoring 10 points and grabbing 5 rebounds. Memorial was yet again able to make the opponents’ hot scorer a non-factor. In the championship game of the Chargers’ stingy defense was Putnam City North’s Dennon Mitchell who shot 1 of 12 from the field and ended with 5 points. Mitchell who had 57 points in the first two rounds was held to a three-pointer and made two free throws in the championship game. The win gave Memorial its first boy’s state title since 2003.
5A Girls: Booker T. Washington-48  Coweta-43
In 5A girl’s action, No.1 Booker T. Washington and No.2 Coweta battled it out in front of a Ford Center crowd of 3,000. Behind Taleya Mayberry’s game high 20 points, the Hornets won 48-43. Coweta sophomore Jenni Bryan led the Tigers scoring effort with 18 points while also recording 9 rebounds. The win gave BTW it’s first girls basketball championship and made them the third consecutive Tulsa Public Schools team to win the 5A girls title, East Central had won the previous two.
3A Boys: Verdigris-62  Tahlequah-Sequoyah-51
Go with who brought you to the dance and that’s just what the Verdigris Cardinals did in their state title win over Tahlequah-Sequoyah, 62-51. Verdigris star Rotnei Clarke dropped 35 points on 12 of 24 shooting. Senior center Adam Hollon got 12 points and 7 rebounds for the Cardinals in what is their first basketball title in front of 10,000 spectators at the State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City.
Tahlequah-Sequoyah senior Mike Soap led third ranked Sequoyah in scoring with 15 points on 6 of 14 shooting from the field. It was the third time in four years for Tahlequah-Sequoyah to lose in the title game and the second year in a row.
5A Boys: Guthrie-58  Booker T. Washington-57
Just seconds and a controversial no-call kept the Booker T. Washington Hornets away from winning a record 14th gold ball. The controversial play came in the final seconds when Hornet Desmond Clark stole the Guthrie in bounds pass but missed a very physical shot attempt that many believed should have been called to put Clark at the line. T.J. Smith tried the tip-in, but missed and James Booker got a tip-in off of Smith’s miss, but the final buzzer had already sounded. This was after Smith hit the second of two free throws to cut the Guthrie lead to 58-57.
3A Girls: Millwood-63   Tahlequah-Sequoyah-60
In 3A girl’s play, Tahlequah-Sequoyah went into the game trying for a record fourth consecutive state championship game, a feat that has never been accomplished. In front of 9,000 spectators, No.2 Millwood had other plans however. Sequoyah senior and Kansas signee Angel Goodrich led the game in scoring with 22 points. Goodrich also had the opportunity to give Sequoyah the lead but was stripped of the ball and Millwood’s Ronita Coleman secured the ball and was quickly fouled with one second left in the game. After Coleman made two free throws, Lorin Hammer took a desperation half court shot at the buzzer that was no good. It was a complete team effort for Millwood with four players scoring in double figures and as a team won the battle of the boards 41-20.