caney valley, copan, dewey, wcs, nowata, end 2024 year; get ready for 2025
Wesleyan Christian School’s Trey White (12) looks to pass the ball during earlier season action. WCS defeated Foyil, 66-27 on December 20, 2024. Photos are available for purchase at https://beckyburch.zenfolio.com.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Copan High School’s Jarrett Shambles (15) takes a shot during an earlier season game. The Hornets defeated Bluejacket, 65-45 on December 20, 2024. Photos are available for purchase at https://beckyburch.zenfolio.com.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Wesleyan Christian School basketball teams cruised to pre-Christmas victories to end their December schedule slates on a positive note during sizzling hoops weekend action.
Other area prep basketball teams also wrapped up in winning style their successful November/December showings, while Copan girls captured their first season victory.
Following are summaries of these games and others.
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WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN BOYS
There are few absolutes in the fickle realm known as athletic competition.
But the WCS Mustangs can claim one of them.
No other team could have gotten off to a better start through eight games: 8-0.
The Mustangs finished off their perfect December by crumpling Foyil, 66-27, last weekend.
Three double-digit scorers — Kyle Kelley (14 points), James Wisdom (12) and Trey White (11) — spearheaded the offensive attack.
Foyil did a good job of trying to isolate Kelley and White but the Mustangs still broke away.
WCS scored more than 50 points in the first half.
“We did a really good job with getting those guys at the end of bench good minutes,” said Mustangs head coach Steven Cooks.
WCS held six of eight opponents to 35-or-fewer points.
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WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN GIRLS
The Lady Mustangs pulled into the Christmas break with a 6-2 record, capped by a 47-27 victory at Foyil.
They are 4-1 in their last five games.
Copan High School’s Elyzabeth Odum (21) moves the ball during earlier season action. The Lady Hornets defeated Bluejacket, 41-34 on December 20, 2024. Photos are available for purchase at https://beckyburch.zenfolio.com.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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COPAN GIRLS
Led by its scrappy senior duo of Elyzabeth Odum and Kam Van, the Lady Hornets (1-4) steered past Bluejacket, 41-34, in Bluejacket.
Odum and Van each pumped in 16 points to fuel Copan’s offensive effort, followed by Zoey Secondine, six; Amy Nittler, two; and Kaylee Woodworth, one.
“It was a much better disciplined effort,” said Copan head coach Kristy Bryan about her girls. “They were patient, they ran the offense and they looked for open shots.”
Bluejacket made a late uprising, “But we held on to the win,” Bryan said.
Woodworth and Secondine grabbed six and five rebounds, respectively, and the defense amassed 13 steals.
Next up Copan scrimmages during the break with Nowata and will resume the season with a game on Jan. 7 at South Coffeyville.
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COPAN BOYS
Unveiling a new motion offense, Copan (4-2) bludgeoned Bluejacket, 65-45, to improve to 4-2.
Hornet battler Jarrett Shambles made a wreck of Bluejacket’s defense by pouring in 21 points. Teegan Caron and Karson Woodworth added nine points each. Sophomore Xavier Alston made a stinging impact with seven points and eight rebounds.
“He’s kind of battled stuff the last couple of weeks,” Copan head coach Kolton Stacy said about Alston’s emergence in this game. “We’ve been getting him in more. … I think he’s a kid that can be a stat sheet stuffer. He’s really talented.”
Stacy gave as much credit or more for Friday’s win to his defense.
“It seems like when we hold teams to less than 50 points we have a good chance to win,” he said.
The players quickly adapted to the new offense installed just four days earlier.
“It’s a very simple process,” Stacy said. “A guy has got two reads. If it’s open, it’s open.”
Copan eyes a showdown against South Coffeyville on the other side of the Christmas break.
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NOWATA BOYS
The Ironmen (5-2) cruised into Christmas on the momentum of back-to-back victories against Chelsea, 38-28, and Commerce, 70-48.
Nowata’s defense met the team’s goal in holding Chelsea to less than 30 points, second-year head coach Derrick Ott said.
Against Commerce, Chelo Prince crowned the Nowata scoring list with 22 points, followed by Talon Thompson, 18; Clint Harrington, 10; Ty Williams, five; Adrian O’Dell, seven; Davion Downing, two, and Ryan Walton, five.
Nowata flipped-flopped its record of 2-5 at this time last year.
“A key is consistency, especially on the defensive end,” said Ott. “They’re really bought into my defensive philosophy. … I’ve really hammered on defense. Our offense has been good enough to win games.”
Creating scoring opportunities off the defense has been a focal point, he added.
Caney Valley High School’s Jaycee Tant moves the ball against Oklahoma Union in Ramona on December 20, 2024. The Lady Trojans defeated OKU, 57-25. Photos are available for purchase at https://beckyburch.zenfolio.com.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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CANEY VALLEY GIRLS
34 points. 17 points. 32 points. 22 points. 38 points.
Judging by those numbers, the early season has not been exactly an offensive bonanza for the Caney Valley Lady Trojans (5-3).
But they might have turned a corner on Friday.
Led by three double-digit scorers, the Lady Trojans knocked off visiting Oklahoma Union, 57-25. The final score included a season-high point total and widest margin of victory for Caney Valley.
Adesta Henry dialed in 18 points, followed by Abby Daigle with 14 and Roxy Hawkins with 13 to top the Lady Trojans. Sydni Brown contributed eight points and Aliah Harvey with four.
“Defensively, our trap was pretty menacing tonight,” said Caney Valley head coach Deric Longan.
Caney Valley basically put the game away in the first half with a 32-7 lead.
The win snapped a disappointing two-game losing streak for Caney Valley — not necessarily disappointing in the losses themselves but for the lopsided margins.
“We just really have a good ability for this young group to just play the next game,” Longan said. “They’re not thinking about the last one.”
Hawkins is the gritty leader of the defense, Longan said, labeling her efforts as “a phenomenal job.”
He also praised the rebounding in this game by Jayci Tant.
“I’m super pleased with the way the pre-Christmas has gone,” Longan summarized.
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CANEY VALLEY BOYS
Close losses have been the biggest burden borne by the CV Trojans.
But Friday’s two-point setback against Oklahoma Union (2-4), 40-38, included an extra sting — the injury loss of its most dangerous scorer Maverick Condry.
In fact Condry — who had been hurt earlier in the season but came back — went down 22 seconds in the game.
The Trojans (2-6) also went to battle without Zeb Shaw, due to illness, CV head coach Tug Brinker said.
Even with two starters out the Trojans still nearly scrapped to victory.
“They went ahead with 40 seconds to go,” Brinker said. “We turned it over and had to foul them. We had a chance with 10 seconds left to win it.”
Zac Longan drilled 13 points to pace the Trojans attack. Logan Horsman and Logan Thompson added nine points each.
But foul trouble also took its toll on Caney Valley and forced Brinker to rely heavily on multiple underclassmen.
Poor free throw shooting (3-of-11) and 17 turnovers also proved too big of obstacles for the Trojans to get past.
Caney Valley has dropped three decisions by seven-or-fewer points.
Dewey High School’s Kooper Crawford moves the ball up the court during earlier season action. Dewey fell to Caney (Kan.), 76-68 on the road on December 20, 2024. Photos are available for purchase at https://beckyburch.zenfolio.com.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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DEWEY BOYS
Going into halftime the Dewey Bulldoggers (3-4) seemed to be primed to close its jaws around the victory.
They had held the Caney (Kan.) Bullpups to only 26 points the first two quarters and had displayed a generous blast of firepower to take a six-point lead.
But then the game took a Mary Lou Retton — a complete somersault.
The Pups unleashed a 50-point offensive firestorm in the second half — outscoring Dewey by 16 points — on their way to a 76-68 victory.
“We had four guys foul out,” noted Dewey head coach Lance Knight. “They (the officials) played it a little tighter than we’re used to and we didn’t adjust. They (the Bullpups) played a lot better the second half. We had to foul them at the end and they made their free throws. … It was a good atmosphere. ... We have a good little rivalry.”
Dewey’s trio of double-digit scorers included Tre Hicks (15 points), Zach Renfroe (13) and Cooper Wood (10). Karson Johnson added nine points, followed by Austin Eastman with seven, Kooper Crawford with five, Lathe Griggs with four and Jay Murguia with one.
Knight said the focus during holiday practices will be to work on mental states and attitudes to decrease distractions during the game, as well as more consistency all four quarters.
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DEWEY GIRLS
Foul problems plagued the Dewey Lady Doggers in their 24-21 loss to Caney (Kan.).
Dewey had a chance to send it to overtime in the last minute of the game, but fell short.
“We played really well and took the lead several times but could never pull away”, said coach Michael Sanders.
Presley Smith led in scoring with 22, followed by Shaylan Ishem with 10.
The Lady Doggers spent the next day on a team trip to Stillwater to watch Oklahoma State University basketball.
“Now we are going to take some time off and enjoy family and friends and get back to work after Christmas,” said Sanders.
(Becky Burch contributed to this story.)
Dewey High School’s Chanley Herren (3) pressures a player in earlier season action. The Lady Doggers dropped a close one to Caney (Kan.), 24-21 on December 20, 2024 on the road. Photos are available for purchase at https://beckyburch.zenfolio.com.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports