area basketball roundup: dewey, caney valley, barnsdall, copan, wcs, nowata
Dewey High School’s CJ Jones (14) and a Nowata player battle under the basket during action in Dewey on February 4, 2025. The Lady Bulldoggers defeated Nowata, 46-17.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Dewey High School’s Zach Renfroe (1) goes to the basket during an earlier season game against Caney Valley. Dewey defeated Nowata, 52-44 on February 4, 2025 while Caney Valley fell to Oklahoma Union, 40-26.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
February 7, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Following are summaries of recent area high school basketball games.
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BOYS: Dewey 52, Nowata 44
As the legendary Jackie Gleason said: “How sweet it is!”
Dewey Bulldogger players could echo that emotion after they rebuffed resolute rival Nowata, 52-44.
The undaunted Doggers avenged an 11-point loss when the teams met prior to Christmas.
Kooper Crawford and Austin Eastman ripped the nets for 12 points apiece to lift Dewey (10-8) to Tuesday’s rematch win.
“It was a great game,” said Dewey head coach Lance Knight. “They got up on us early, I think it was 13-1, but we closed the margin in the first quarter. They led 20-19 at the end of the first quarter but they only scored 24 points the last three quarters.”
Rounding out Dewey’s scorers were Zach Renfroe, 11; Carson Johnson, 11; and Tra Hicks, six.
Dewey pulled ahead 14 in the third quarter, but Nowata (12-8) fought back valiantly to shorten the gap.
“The fourth quarter got a little chaotic … the first three minutes,” said Knight, who saw his team record its fourth-straight victory. “It was a great game, a rivalry game that was real intense. My guys played a good game.”
How close has this rivalry been?
In their last 19 meetings Nowata owns a slim 10-9 advantage. The average scoring margin is 7.2 points in favor of Nowata.
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Dewey High School’s Tyler Roach (13) goes to the basket against Caney Valley’s Logan Thompson (12) during an earlier season game. Dewey defeated Nowata, 52-44 on February 4, 2025 while Caney Valley fell to Oklahoma Union, 40-26.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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GIRLS: Dewey 46, Nowata 17
Dewey’s freshman Presley Smith came out gunning in the first quarter scoring 12 of the Lady Bulldogger’s 15 points against Nowata.
The Lady Bulldoggers (10-7) defeated Nowata at home, 46-17, sweeping the two-game series. Dewey bested the Lady Ironmen back in December, 41-16 in Nowata.
In addition to the barrage of scoring, the Lady Bulldoggers kept a full-court press which the Lady Ironmen seemed to have trouble breaking.
“Scoring comes and goes for us, but something that is typically consistent is our ability to play hard and our defense,” said head coach Michael Sanders. “That didn’t change tonight.”
Eight Lady Bulldoggers scored, led by Smith's 23 points. CJ Jones added eight, followed by Jaelynn Smith with four and Shatana Sutton with three. Chanley Herren, Matney Epperson, Kaci Swan, and Abigail Atkinson all had two each. - By Becky Burch
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BOYS: Barnsdall 64, Copan 42
A shortage of practice time — due to a tussle by several players against elusive seasonal illness — took its toll on the Copan Hornets.
“We had sickness going through us,” said Hornet coach Kolton Stacy, who himself had to sit out a game last week. “We didn’t practice on the weekend and had only eight guys at practice on Monday.”
Barnsdall, meanwhile, zeroed in with acute accuracy on its shots.
The Panthers rang up 11 three-pointers compared to just four for Copan.
“We were finally able to make our shots,” said Barnsdall coach Wade Corder, who saw his team get back to the .500 mark (11-11) with its third-straight triumph.
Lincoln Gott netted 14 points and grabbed 12 boards for Barnsdall. Maverick Lanphear added 11 points and eight rebounds.
“They’ve been buying in,” Corder said about his players after watching them reel off an 8-4 record in their last 12 games. “They’re getting better.”
Copan (11-6) — which has been consistently competitive all season — suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season.
Copan’s Shooter Brewington buried 25 points to provide most of his team’s offense.
“He’s a Batman and we need a Robin,” said Stacy. “It’s a matter of seeing the lightbulb switch on in another guy. … This was just one of those nights. We had a team meeting. … We can’t ever let the lows be too low or the highs too high. We need to just try to keep continuing to get better every game.”
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Copan High School’s Kane Foreman (12) takes a shot during earlier season action against Wesleyan Christian. Copan fell to Barnsdall, 64-42 on February 4, 2025, while WCS defeated Foyil, 76-23.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Copan High School’s Izzy Sheaffer (12) controls the ball during earlier season action against Wesleyan Christian. Copan defeated Barnsdall, 48-47 on February 4, 2025, while WCS defeated Foyil, 43-18.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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GIRLS: Copan 48, Barnsdall 47
Copan (6-11) snapped its two-game losing streak and split the season series against Barnsdall (10-12).
“It was a good win for us,” said Copan head coach Kristy Bryan. “It was one of those games where it was close the whole way.”
Barnsdall surged to an early seven-point lead but Copan clawed into the lead.
“We were up four points with a couple of minutes left and made a couple of turnovers that let Barnsdall score a couple of baskets,” Bryan said.
Copan sealed the win at the free throw line.
Copan’s Elyzabeth Odum stirred the cords for 19 points, followed by Zoey Secondine with a career-high 18 points. She also pulled down 10 rebounds (six offensive).
Kam Van ripped two three-pointers, Rylee Preston scored three and Kaylee Woodworth added two.
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BOYS: Oklahoma Union 40, Caney Valley 26
“We just couldn’t hit a shot,” said Caney Valley coach Tug Brinker. “Defensively, we’re fine.”
Ethan Brown and Zeb Shaw “both did a pretty good job and rebounded well,” the coach added.
Every player is trying their best, he added.
Caney Valley fell to 4-15 while Oklahoma Union improved to 11-11 and 2-0 in February.
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GIRLS: Caney Valley 36, Oklahoma Union 19
“It was an odd game for us,” said Caney Valley coach Deric Longan. “We had had one of our better shooting nights the game before but in this game we struggled shooting the ball.”
But there was nothing wrong with Caney Valley’s defense. Oklahoma Union (1-18) didn’t score a point in the first quarter and had to claw from behind all game.
“Our defense gave us an opportunity to have an off-night offensively,” Longan summarized.
Abby Daigle topped Caney Valley with 12 points, followed by Sydni Brown, eight; Roxy Hawkins, seven; Adesta Henry, four; Jaycee Tant, three; and Faith Davis, two.
Tant hit a key trey in the third quarter that energized the offense for Caney Valley (12-7).
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Wesleyan Christian School’s Owen Hay (11) looks to pass the ball during an earlier season game. The Mustangs improved to 18-3 with their 76-23 win over Foyil on February 4, 2025.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BOYS: Wesleyan Christian School 76, Foyil 23
The Mustangs pummeled Foyil, 76-23, to improve to 18-3. They are closing in on 20 regular season victories for the first time in program history. This was the sixth contest in which WCS has scored more than 70 points.
The Lady Mustangs continue to storm through their historic season, improving to 13-8 after crumpling Foyil, 43-18. This was the first game that WCS has held an opponent to fewer than 20 points.