BARTLESVILLE HOOPS: Girls outduel Jenks; Boys finish red hot in loss
Bartlesville High School’s Kenzie Denny (12) is fouled during an earlier season game. The Lady Bruins defeated Jenks on the road, 61-55 on Jan. 17, 2025. BHS is back home on Tuesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Bartlesville High School’s Dennis Duncan (12) drives the ball during an earlier season game. The Bruins fell on the road to Jenks, 64-40 on Jan. 17, 2025. BHS is back home on Tuesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Out of the growing pains of defeat and disappointment endured the previous couple of seasons by the Bartlesville High School girls basketball team have emerged muscles of steely character.
The Lady Bruins put them to good use on Friday (Jan. 17).
Locked in a fierce battle against the Jenks Lady Trojans — on Jenks’ home floor — the Lady Bruins displayed the grit, grace and gravitas to wrest out a 61-55 victory.
With the win, Bartlesville improved to 8-4 overall — it’s best start in five seasons — and moved into a third-place tie (at 4-3) in District 6A-4 standings,
The Bartlesville boys didn’t fare as well Friday, dropping a 64-40 decision to the Jenks Trojans.
But it might well be that in the next year or two when the Bruins are one of the top district teams, one could look back at this game as a subtle and de facto turning point.
Following are more details of Friday’s games.
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Bartlesville High School’s Jordan Turner (22) waits at the free throw line during an earlier season game. The Bruins fell on the road to Jenks, 64-40 on Jan. 17, 2025. BHS is back home on Tuesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BOYS: Jenks 64, Bartlesville 40
The Bruins had every excuse to fling in the towel after falling behind by 24 points at halftime, 33-9.
Their offensive output had been doleful, their defensive performance anemic.
Then, something just short of miraculous happened in the second half — the Bruins transformed from mediocre to mercurial to menacing on the maturity scale.
Bartlesville (2-10, 0-7) played Jenks (7-7, 4-3) dead-even in the second half, 31-31.
Dennis “Dynamo” Duncan led the raucous revival by scoring 13 points in the second half (finishing with 15 for the game).
Several other Bruins also added wood to the fire.of risorgimento.
Hudson Eads — who saw action for the first time in a few games due to illness — opened the fourth quarter by knocking down three-pointers on back-to-back Bruin possessions.
Nash Zervas buried two treys in the second half and Luke Massey added another.
Trae Collins also dialed in a fourth-quarter three-pointer — and also flushed a trey back in the second quarter.
E.J. Belisle also turned in some scrappy minutes and netted a field goal in the first quarter.
Every Bruin that hit the court contributed in some crucial way to help Bartlesville to energize the valiant struggle.
Bartlesville — which is coached by Tommy DeSalme — unleashed an offensive storm in the fourth quarter with four three-pointers while outscoring Jenks, 18-10.
NEXT UP: Bartlesville plays host to Edmond North at 8 p.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 21). Edmond North won when they met in early December, 60-32.
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Bartlesville High School’s Kennedy Nuble (22) looks to the basket during an earlier season game. The Lady Bruins defeated Jenks on the road, 61-55 on Jan. 17, 2025. BHS is back home on Tuesday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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GIRLS: Bartlesville 61, Jenks 55
Bartlesville and Jenks slugged it out like two heavyweights.
Bartlesville came up big on both ends of the court — including several blocked shots administered by Kennedy Nubel to disrupt Jenks’ offense and several defensive rebounds.
The first words in the offensive assault were Kenzie and Sami.
Kenzie Denny drilled 19 points and Sami Sheaffer added 14 to puncture the Jenks defense.
Nubel scored nine, Emma Zimmerman added seven, Alayah Lunn netted six and Adrianne Flick picked up four.
Every quarter was close.
Jenks led at the end of the first period, 18-15. Bartlesville clawed ahead by halftime, 26-25.
The Lady Bruins ended the second quarter with a 6-1 run — two free throws by Denny, one free throw by Sheaffer and a Lunn three-pointer.
That late rally unleashed Bartlesville’s 35-point eruption in the second half.
Zimmerman, Flick and Nubel all hit two-pointers to open the third quarter scoring for Bartlesville. But, Jenks continued to keep pace.
Toward the end of the period Denny ripped two three-pointers to lift the Lady Bruins to a 43-39 lead headed into the fourth period.
After Bartlesville went up by nine, 52-43 (following a bucket by Sheaffer), Jenks closed the lead back to three points, 54-51.
But Bartlesville — which is coached by Justyn Shaw — refused to wilt in the cauldron of pressure down the stretch.
Sheaffer dialed in two free throws to widen the gap back to six points, 59-53. Kenzie and Lunn each nailed one free throw to finish out the scoring.
NEXT UP: Bartlesville plays host to Edmond North at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 21). This could be an important measuring-stick contest for Bartlesville. In their first meeting back in early December Edmond North won, 70-37.