Warriors in Conference play

Washington’s girl’s basketball team defeated Pauls Valley 58-35 January 2 to extend their record to 10-1.

The No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A got off to a slow start in the game and trailed at the end of the first quarter.

“We weren’t getting stops and they were scoring on us,” said head coach Kale Simon. “We were having to pull the ball out of our own net too much.”

Washington blew the game open in the second quarter and outscored the Panthers 21-3 in that stanza.

“We decided to change gears and we got it going,” Simon said. “We quit fouling as much in the second quarter. We fouled too much in the first quarter and it made the game choppy. We had a good flow the rest of the game.”

Breanna Lindert had a game-high 16 points.

Kelby Beller scored 12 points and Shelbie Caveness had 10.

Simon said once his team dug its heals in during the second quarter the pace picked up in a positive way.

“We forgot that being great takes effort,” he said.

Boys

The Washington boys played in the Noble Basketball Tournament Jan. 4-6.

They opened with Class 4A’s No. 8 ranked team, Blanchard.

The Lions defeated the Warriors 77-65.

“Blanchard is a really good team,” head coach Trevor Smith confirmed. “They have a 6’7” guy who has really good moves and soft touch around the rim. He’s a tough match up for us – for anyone really.”

The game was a back and forth affair and it was a one-possession game in the final minutes.

A late missed rebound on a free throw down the stretch hurt their comeback.

“That killed momentum,” Smith said. “We just couldn’t overcome ourselves.”

Blanchard also shot around 50% from behind the arc and hit big shots on 50-50 balls.

“There were a couple loose balls that they got and made threes on,” Smith said.

John Marshall

They fell to 5A’s John Marshall 58-57 in the second round, despite leading for most of the game.

Washington took a 13-point lead into the halftime locker room but stalled out in the fourth quarter and John Marshall took the lead.

Washington re-took the lead in the fourth and were just trying to burn clock when an unfortunate series of events were set into motion.

Washington called a  time out and threw the ball out of bounds on the ensuing in bounds play.

They were set up for a charge on the next possession but the call did not go the Warriors’ way and John Marshall completed a three-point play near the end of the game.

Washington was not able to get off a good shot on their last possession.

“We played pretty good basketball, but we couldn’t overcome ourselves again,” Smith said. “That’s what the message has been in practice this week.”

Noble

Washington got off to a sloppy start in the Noble game and turnovers plagued the team for much of the game.

Despite their 23 turnovers, they were still in that game until the end.

“We had 13 turnovers in the first half and 10 in the second,” Smith said. “It was ugly.”

Washington had the lead in the game at times but never could separate from the Bears.

Despite losing three games, Smith said the attitude of his club remains good.

“The morale is good and the kids are practicing hard,” Smith said.

Washington is 4-7 and travels to Marlow Friday, December 12 for a Conference match up with the Outlaws.