BHS HOOPS: Lady Bruins improve to 3-1; Bruins drop close pair
Bartlesville High School’s Kennedy Nuble (22) gets past a defender during earlier season acton. The Lady Bruins defeated Muskogee, 46-38 on Dec. 13, 2024 in Bartlesville.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Even the specter of Friday the 13th was no match for the spunky spirit of the Bartlesville High School girls basketball team.
Despite unlucky shooting woes in the first half, the Lady Bruins conjured up a second half rally that carried them to victory against the visiting Muskogee High School girls, 46-38.
With the win, Bartlesville is off to its best season start (3-1) since the 2018-19 season.
But nearly 150 miles away in Ada, meanwhile, the Bartlesville boys’ basketball team suffered back-to-back low voltage offensive outputs in a pair of losses at the Latta tournament.
On Friday, the Bruins (1-4) fell way behind early, 18-3, and had too much ground to make up in a 44-37 loss to Lone Grove High School.
The previous day Bartlesville squeezed out only 12 points in the first half and dropped a 35-33 decision to Latta High School.
Next up, the Lady Bruins and Bruins play on Tuesday (Dec. 17) at Sapulpa. They will be home on Friday (Dec. 20) to take on Enid for their final action prior to the Christmas break.
Following are summaries of this past weekend’s games:
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GIRLS: Bartlesville 46, Muskogee 38
It doesn’t require Sherlock Holmes to deduce the turning point in this one.
Trailing 27-26 late in the third quarter, the Lady Bruins catapulted ahead on Sami Sheaffer’s three-pointer, 29-27.
Muskogee turned over the ball a couple of seconds later, leading to a trey by Kenzie Denny to increase the Lady Bruin lead to five points, 32-27.
Following that fiery surge, the Lady Bruins stayed in front the rest of the way.
“I thought we showed some grit, some toughness and our girls had some resolve,” said fourth-year head coach Justyn Shaw. “Winning has been a process for us.”
Sheaffer’s bucket off a putback, early in the fourth period, made it a seven-point game, 34-27.
After Muskogee failed to answer, Alayah Lunn made a two-point deposit to stretch Bartlesville’s run to 10-0 and its lead to nine points, 36-27.
Muskogee went into a chipmunk-type rally and gnawed away at the margin until it was just two points, 38-36.
But quick back-to-back buckets — one by Cadence Gray and the other by Kennedy Nubel — elevated the Bartlesville advantage back to six points, 42-36.
Nubel and Lunn both scored in the final two minutes to nail down the win.
"We hit some key shots toward the home stretch when we needed,” said Shaw, describing the win as ugly but satisfying.
Lunn finished with a team-high 12 points, followed by Nubel with 10, Sheaffer with nine, Emma Zimmerman and Adrianne Flick with five apiece, Denny with three and Gray with two.
Shaeffer’s overall line was outstanding — nine boards and four assists to go with a steal and a block.
Nubel also came up big by pulling down six rebounds, blocking two shots and dealing out two assists.
Flick grabbed six boards and pilfered the ball three times, while Zimmerman amassed three assists.
Gray contributed five boards and three assists.
“All the girls that played contributed,” said Shaw. “We rebounded the ball really well.”
Shaw steered last year’s team to 11-12, the best showing by a Lady Bruin squad in five seasons.
Bartlesville High School’s Michael Kent (14) in earlier season action. The Bruins participated in the Latta Tournament last week.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BOYS: Lone Grove 44, Bartlesville 37
One has to give the young Bartlesville Bruins — who probably have less cumulative varsity experience than many Class 6A junior varsity programs — credit for scrappiness.
It’s not a comforting thing for any team to look up at the scoreboard and see itself trailing by 15 points, 18-3, in the second quarter.
But with first-year head coach Tommy DeSalme pulling several strings with substitutions — to try to keep his Bruins legs fresh, spread the seasoning and shuffle in the best mix — Bartlesville slowly, but grittily, clawed itself back into the game.
Nash Zervas’ three-point ignited an 11-5 run in the second period, which included a trey off the fingertips of Hunter Holmes.
By halftime, the Bruins had pulled within nine points, 23-14.
And in the third quarter Bartlesville kept chopping down the lead. Back-to-back treys by Hudson Eads and Holmes made it a one-point game, 27-26, leaving the Bruins just one bucket away from taking the lead.
But that proved to be an undoable task.
After the Bruins failed to score on a Lone Grove turnover — which would have put Bartlesville on top — Lone Grove finished the third quarter on a 5-0 run to lead, 32-26.
After Lone Grove extended its lead back to 10 points, the Bruins got no closer than six points.
Zervas — the lone Bruin senior — scored in double-digits.
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BOYS: Latta 35, Bartlesville 33
The pattern had been much the same as it would be Friday — Bartlesville struggled to score early, fell behind and made a second half revival.
The Bruins scored only six points — including a trey by Zervas — in the first quarter.
They powered into the lead, 8-7, early in the second quarter, but trailed at the break, 18-12.
The third quarter was nearly break-even, thanks to five points by Eads, and Latta led by seven, 27-20, going into the final period.
In the final four minutes the Bruins made their bid for victory, sparked by back-to-back Trae Collins’ three-pointers that trimmed Latta’s lead to a single possession, 31-28.
The Bruins continued their determined uprising, aided by Jordan Turner’s three-pointer, to slice the margin to one point, 34-33, in favor of Latta.
Bartlesville got the ball back late on a steal by Michael Kent, but failed to cash in and Latta hung on.