area basketball roundup: dewey, caney valley, copan, nowata, oku, wcs
Dewey High School’s Lathe Griggs (3) and Caney Valley’s Logan Horseman (0) go up for a loose ball during the Bulldogger’s homecoming game on January 17, 2025. Dewey defeated the Trojans, 56-33.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Following are summaries of recent action by area high school basketball teams.
__________
BOYS: DEWEY 56, Caney Valley 33 (January 17)
What a storyline.
Caney Valley (3-9) surged to a 14-point lead in the second quarter and carried a seven-point bulge, 24-17, into halftime.
But a defensive adjustment at halftime by the Dewey Doggers (6-6) completely reversed the tide. The Doggers outscored Caney Valley by 30 points, 39-9, in the final two quarters — to the delight of their home fans.
Dewey improved to 3-1 in its last four games while the Trojans fell to 1-3 in January.
Karson Johnson and Kooper Crawford netted 16 and 11 points, respectively, to pace the Dewey attack. Cooper Wood and Tra Hicks added six points each, followed by Jay Murguia with four.
“We started out slow,” said Dewey head coach Lance Knight. “At halftime we made some adjustments. We had been doing a little zone press but we got back to a 1-3-1 zone and they struggled against us a little bit.”
Beyond that, Knight exhorted his guys to focus more on making shots. Judging by the result they listened.
Rounding out the Dewey scorers were Lathe Griggs with four, Zach Renfroe with three, Tyler Roach with two and Devon Walters with two.
“It’s been kind of a rough week healthwise,” Knight added. “We’ve had a bunch of kids with the flu.”
— By Mike Tupa
__________
Dewey High School’s Austin Eastman (11) drives to the basket between Caney Valley’s Zacary Longan (13) and Logan Thompson (12) during homecoming action on January 17, 2025 in Dewey. The Bulldoggers defeated Caney Valley, 56-33.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Dewey High School’s 22 Shaylyn Ishem (22) goes to the basket against Caney Valley’s Jaycee Tant (10) during homecoming action in Dewey on January 17, 2025. The Lady Doggers defeated Caney Valley, 42-26.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
—————
GIRLS: DEWEY 42, Caney Valley 26 (January 17)
In front of a packed crowd, the Lady Doggers capped off homecoming with a 42-26 win over Caney Valley.
“It took us a little bit to get going with the homecoming activities and crowd,” said Dewey head coach Michael Sanders. “When we calmed down our defense and offense got hot.”
C.J. Jones drained five treys for the Lady Bulldoggers, leading the way in scoring. Cayenne Chinn scored seven, followed by Shaylyn Ishem with six points.
Caney Valley freshman Adesta Henry scored eight points, followed by Abby Daigle with six.
The Lady Trojans are led by Deric Longan.
- By Becky Burch
__________
Wesleyan Christian School’s James Wisdom (10) guards Copan’s Shooter Brewington (2) in earlier season action. WCS defeated Bluejacket, 52-24 on January 17, 2025.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
__________
BOYS: WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN 52, Bluejacket 24 (January 17)
This was pretty much business as usual for the WCS Mustangs, who rolled to their 12th win in 14 games.
“We got quite a bit done,” said WCS head coach Steven Cooks, adding the team got some rare work against a 2-3 zone. “We got everybody in. These kinds of games are great for building experience."
Kyle Kelley and Trey White knocked down 14 points each, followed by Jarrett Jensen with seven.
NEXT UP: WCS travels Thursday to the Yale Tournament to play at 2:30 p.m. against Sperry.
— By Mike Tupa
__________
GIRLS: WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN 43, Bluejacket 31 (January 17)
Even though they improved to 9-5, the WCS Lady Mustangs apparently didn’t bring their best effort.
“We came out sluggish,” said WCS head coach Kendall Huntington. “We didn’t play that great but we found a way to pull off a win.”
The Lady Mustangs displayed strong, balanced play on both ends of the court, Huntington said.
The five Lady Mustang starters that have set the tone for this historic season are senior Lydia Foster, junior Whitley Tennison and sophomores Kori White, Emily Christenson and Miranda Hadrava.
NEXT UP: The Lady Mustangs journey Thursday to the Yale Tourney, where they will open at 12:40 p.m. against Davenport.
— By Mike Tupa
__________
Copan High School’s Zoey Secondine (3) tries to block a shot from Wesleyan Christian School’s Emily Christenson (5) in an earlier season game. Copan girls and boys faced Shidler and Prue earlier in the week.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
__________
BOYS: COPAN
During the weekend the Copan Hornets ran its winning streak to four straight. Copan finished the week at 3-0 to improve to 9-3, including 5-1 in January. Following are summaries of the most recent two games.
COPAN 54, SHIDLER 38 (January 16) — Shooter Brewington and Teegan Caron poured in 21 and 13 points, respectively, to pace the Hornets. With regular point guard Jarrett Shambles out for an injury issue, Caron stepped in and performed well, Copan head coach Kolton Stacy said.
COPAN 55, PRUE 45 (January 17) — Copan made the long journey to Prue and floated home on a wave of happiness with the 10-point win.
Kane Foreman nailed three three-pointers to energize the Hornets. Brewington buried 17 points and Caron added 12.
“Overall it was not a bad week,” said Stacy. “At the beginning of the week I told the guys we had a chance to be 9-3 by the end of the week.”
— By Mike Tupa
—————
GIRLS: COPAN
After a big win over the Newkirk jayvee in the Cherokee Tournament, the Lady Hornets dropped two games. They are now 3-8 on the season. Following are summaries of the most recent two games.
Shidler 70, COPAN 28 (January 16) - This was a tough game for the Lady Hornets, who lost by their biggest margin this season.
Down by just two points, 12-10, at the end of the first quarter, Copan kept up with the Lady Tigers initially, but struggled to find the basket the rest of the way.
Kam Van scored 19 points and Zoey Secondine added 12 for the Lady Hornets.
Prue 70, COPAN 45 (January 17) -While Copan again gave up 70 points, the Lady Hornets were able to put 45 points on the scoreboard against Prue (11-3).
“We played the best we have all season against Prue, while we played the worst the night before,” said coach Kristy Bryan.
Even though the Lady Hornets lost by 25 points, Bryan said this game was the best outcome of the week.
“Prue had two really good players,” said Bryan. “Bailey Reed had 35 points. I watched her score 40 plus points in our tournament.”
Copan’s Elyzabeth Odum had a hot hand, scoring 28 of the Lady Hornet’s 45 points. Kaylee Woodworth added six points.
- By Becky Burch
__________
Nowata High School’s Hanna Hewitt (3) gets past a Dewey defender during an earlier season game. The Ironmen girls and boys swept Oklahoma Union on January 17, 2025.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
_________
BOYS: NOWATA 57, Oklahoma Union 54 (January 17)
A glut of free throws in the fourth quarter by Oklahoma Union added a layer of drama not really reflective of most of the game, Nowata head coach Derrick Ott said.
“We were up 20 at halftime,” he noted. “They shot 15 or 17 free throws in the fourth quarter. … It ended up being more exciting than it should have been.”
Admittedly Ott had expected a strong effort by Oklahoma Union on its homecourt and for Senior Night.
“We knew they weren’t going to lay down,” he said.
Even so, Ott said the final period symphony of whistles by the officials played a major role in the close finish.
“Defensively our intensity was really good the first three quarters,” he added. “Offensively, we were really patient. … We had too many turnovers in the fourth quarter. This was our fifth game in seven days.”
Nowata recorded its fifth-straight win and improved to 10-4, just two wins shy of last year’s total.
“In that game Friday, I don’t know last year if we were mentally strong enough or tough enough to get the win,” he said.
— By Mike Tupa
__________
GIRLS: NOWATA 44, Oklahoma Union 18 (January 17)
A struggling Lady Ironmen team picked up their first win of the season, downing Oklahoma Union 44-18. The two teams meet again on February 7 in Nowata.
- By Becky Burch