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Senior post Laurie Watson, left, shoots through a double-down in Thursday’s season opener with Paoli. Watson finished with a team-high eleven points and three blocks in the Ladies’ 43-38 home loss. Paoli guard Zach Jeandemange
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runs out of room as Alex freshman post Zach Mainka shuts down the lane Thursday. The big guy came in off the bench and helped lead the Longhorns to a 59-45 win with a 17 point outing and dominating play inside.
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Longhorns win opener
Game slips away from Alex girls as pace slows
ALEX – Alex’s girls came up short, but the Longhorn boys won big in Thursday night’s season-opener with Paoli. The Longhorn post players were the big factor in both games, and one was kind of a surprise.
Senior Laurie Watson had 11 points and three blocks, as the Lady Pugs put the bite on their hosts, 43-38, and freshman Zach Mainka sent a message that there are two big ‘Horns in town, coming off the bench to lead the guys to a 59-45 win in the nightcap. Mainka scored 17 points.
Senior starter Brandon Carnes, who got into foul trouble early, finished with 12 points.
GIRLS
PAOLI 43, ALEX 38
Coach Danny Moore wanted his girls to push the ball up the floor. They did, and when they did, they controlled the tempo. But the Pugs forced them to slow things down and go inside more, and Alex let the game slip away.
“We’ve got some good, quick kids,” the coach said. “We need to learn to use our speed more to help our ball club.”
Watson had a big game on both ends, in spite of having to deal with four Lady Pugs in the 5-foot-10 to 6-foot range.
“We’re going to be outsized everywhere we go,” Moore said. “We understand that. We’re not real great outside shooters yet. We shoot well in practice, but we’ve got to figure out how to get our shots off faster.”
Sophomore Courtney Alcorn’s six first-quarter points got Alex out to a 13-8 lead, but Paoli bounced back for a 26-21 halftime cushion in spite of Watson’s six. The Longhorns got to the line in the third and got to 38-32 and the teams traded baskets through a low-scoring fourth for the final.
Alex got to the free throw line playing tough and aggressively inside and converted 14 of 19.
Alcorn finished with eight points, Kristin Williams had seven, Bethani Woods and Terra Helm had five each and freshman Annie Davenport had two off the bench.
“Every game we’ve got to figure out how to get a little better,” the coach said. “It’ll get better for us.”
Junior Lauran Guadaramma had a game-high 15 points and senior Jessica McNeill and junior Jocy Nunez had eleven each for the Lady Pugs.
BOYS
ALEX 59, PAOLI 45
Carnes got Paoli’s biggest Pug, senior post Cody Travis (6-6 and 240), in foul trouble within two minutes but also checked out a few minutes later with two fouls of his own. Mainka was thrust into the fire quicker than coach Erik Yeiser expected, but the freshman didn’t disappoint, dominating play inside on both ends of the floor and finishing with a team-high 17 points.
He sparked a late run to get the Horns out to a 29-22 halftime lead and then Alex broke things open in the third quarter, using both big guys to out-score Paoli by 10 for a 47-30 cushion.
Carnes spent the entire second quarter sitting, but when he checked back in for the third quarter he came up big, picking up seven points playing smart and tough with four fouls, while Mainka added six more points.
Carnes finished with a dozen and senior point guard Wayne Heffington was also in double figures with 11.
Alex Helm, last year’s leading scorer, had six points as he concentrated on getting the ball inside; Bailey Payne had five, Josh Collins, Aaron Rogers and Tanner Akins added two each; and Cash Bray and Trey Anderson had one each on free throws.
“That was our first opening game win in my four years here,” a happy Yeiser said. “Brandon started things out for us going after their big kid and getting him in foul trouble then made some mistakes and got in foul trouble himself, so they kind of negated each other.
“Zach stepped up and wasn’t scared. He knew their big kid was in foul trouble and went right after him also. For a freshman, that’s a great thing to see. I expect good thing from him.”
Junior Daniel Gibson took the Pugs on his shoulders with a game-high twenty points and sophomore Jerry Johnson had nine before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.
The Longhorns travel to Cement Tuesday.
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Duncan nips Chicks for straight-game win
Duncan got their eighth match win of the season Tuesday, beating Nancy Waters’ Lady Chicks in straight games at the Activity Center.
The Chicks looked like they had a little hangover from Monday night’s tough road loss at Tecumseh, coming out flat again and dropping their first two games by identical 25-17 scores.
They came out firing on all eight cylinders for game three, running out to a 15-9 lead on the strength of a 7-0 run with Shelby Crosley serving, but the Demons battled back to tie it late and the Chicks let it slip away, 25-21. -
STATE SPORTS BRIEFS
NORMAN (AP) — Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has named walk-on Patrick O'Hara as the starting place-kicker for the seventh-ranked Sooners.
Stoops said on his radio show Tuesday night that O'Hara won the competition with Jimmy Stevens, freshman Michael Hunnicutt and redshirt freshman Bryce Easley. -
Sooners' announcer to retire
NORMAN (AP) — Bob Barry Sr. announced Tuesday that he plans to retire as the radio play-by-play voice of Oklahoma football and men's basketball after the upcoming season.
Barry has been the radio voice of the Sooners for the last 20 years and he also had a 12-year stint in the job at the beginning of his career. In between, he handled the play-by-play for Tulsa basketball games and then for Oklahoma State football and basketball. -
Big 12 fans target Huskers during last go-round
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Cornhuskers shouldn't expect a fond farewell from fans when they go on the road this fall.
Century-old relationships will end when Nebraska leaves the Big 12 for the Big Ten in 2011, meaning this season's visits to places like Kansas State and Iowa State could be it.
Folks in those old Big Eight haunts already are planning raucous sendoffs.
The message from Iowa State fan Adam Gray: "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." -
Eagle project gives discs flight at park
Early this spring, Tanner Tibbetts, a scout from Troop 4306 in Chickasha began to plan his Eagle Scout Project. He decided on a Disc Golf Course.
He had seen a disc golf tournament at Duncan Lake while he was attending a camporee. There were more than a hundred campers who attended the weekend Disc Golf event at Duncan Lake. He continued to see this event for five consecutive years, because it was held on the same weekend as an annual scout camp.
It was surprising to him see so many people involved in an event that was unavailable in Chickasha. -
Alex visits Ryan for final scrimmage
RYAN – Alex coach Justin Savage took his Longhorns back home to Ryan Friday for their final scrimmage and came away pretty happy with his team’s performance.
With the new re-alignments, Ryan dropped to Class C this year but will still be pretty good despite losing quarterback Colby Barrett to graduation. Vype’s pre-season football magazine picked them to finish second behind Temple in a tough District C-2. -
Chicks struggle with Reds' run game
Clinton, ranked sixth in the Vype Pre-Season 4A poll, brought their powerful running game to Memorial Stadium Thursday for both teams’ final tune-up and presented Chickasha with some new challenges on both sides of the ball.
Tailback Saul Pina, who rushed for just under 1,200 yards (7.1 yards per carry) and 13 touchdowns last year, ran roughshod behind the Reds’ big front line and gave the Chick defense fits. -
Drover Baseball, softball programs host alumni weekend
The USAO baseball and softball programs, in conjunction with the Alumni Association, will host an alumni weekend in August for former players to come together socially and competitively.
“I think it’s a great thing. It keeps them involved in our programs and it provides tradition,” softball coach Jenn White-Cody said. “And I think people love to come back … It’s a way they can reconnect with the guys and gals they played ball with.”
Baseball and softball alumni will meet for dinner and drinks beginning at 5 p.m. August 28, and will follow with an alumni baseball or softball game, beginning at 1 p.m. the following day at Bill Smith Ballpark. Registration for both is $30. Any additional guests — including spouses — are $15 each. -
Chickasha splits matches in Lawton
Chickasha was at Lawton Tomlinson Thursday night for some middle school volleyball and came home with a split. The “A” team lost a close, three-game set and the “B” team won in straight games.
The “A” team prevailed in game one 27-25 but Tom answered with a 22-25 win to even things up and took the rubber game 12-15.
“Elizabeth Wilson and Chloe Moore both served for a five-point runs and Esteria Sanchez had a lot of good hits,” coach Amy Widener said.
Chickasha “B” came out on top in game one 25-19 and held Tom off 25-23 for their straight-game win. Widener said that Devyn Crosley and Athena Stallard both served well for the Chicks in that match.
“Everyone got to play and the girls were very excited,” the coach said. “They worked hard for their points, moved their feet well and never gave up.
“I was very proud of their effort tonight.”
The high school team will be at the Skiatook tournament Saturday then everyone will be back in action Monday at Tecumseh. Matches start at 4 p.m.
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Woods struggles during second round at Barclays
PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — Tiger Woods was poised to take control at the Barclays on Friday. Instead, he went the other way.
Woods missed a 20-inch putt for one of his four bogeys over the last eight holes and shot a 2-over 73.
The difference from the rest of the year is this only cost him the lead, not a chance of winning.
Jason Day, the 22-year-old Australian who won his first PGA Tour event earlier this year, made three straight birdies late in his round and finished with a good par for a 4-under 67 that gave him a one-shot lead.
Day was at 8-under 134, one shot ahead of Kevin Streelman (63) and Vaughn Taylor (70). - More Sports Headlines
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