sports spotlight: hailey tucker

By Mike Tupa

Bartlesville Area Sports Report

Hailey Tucker has always been more than just a pretty face with a million-watt smile.

The Bartlesville High School graduate seemed born to play basketball.

Raised by a basketball coach mom — who guided the Dewey High girls basketball program to its best run in the 2000’s — Tucker sprouted from a little long-haired girl with a shy, enveloping smile, into arguably the finest girls basketball player to play for Bartlesville — or at least certainly in the conversation among the elites.

Her athletic assets were extraordinary — despite her 6-foot-2 size, she boasted the hands and quickness of a point guard and the fearlessness of an angry grizzly in the low post. She also displayed an ice-water-in-the-veins stroke on three-pointers.

While at Bartlesville she twice helped lead Bartlesville to the Class 6A area consolation final. She would become the Lady Bruins’ all-time leading scorer (1,869 points). Her senior season (2014-15), she pumped in 23.7 ppg and pulled down nine rebounds per game. 

Tucker stood in high demand by major NCAA powerhouses through the U.S. during her recruiting phase. She settled on Southwestern Oklahoma State University because, as she said at the time, she wanted to have a chance to win a national title.

Her senior season (2018-19), the Lady Dawgs advanced to the NCAA-II national championship game, losing a thriller.

Tucker collected pretty much every team, Great American Conference and national honor available during her four years of college.

Her final numbers at SWOSU included: 18.3 ppg (2360 points), 7.3 rpg, 257 assists, 224 blocks, 175 steals, 276-of-834 three-pointers and 582-of-712 free throws (.817).

Out of college, Tucker chose a television media career, landing at station KWCH (Wichita, Kan.), where she worked for four years, working her way to chief investigative reporter and an anchor spot.

She’s now moved on to another job. Best of luck to a young lady with the happy personality who has understood her assets and talents and through hard work, determined planning and focused discipline has made the most of them.

Hailey Tucker