With victories last week over Pauls Valley and Chickasha, Purcell ran its record to 8-5 heading into Tuesday night’s home game against the Lindsay Leopards.

The Dragons pocketed road victories over Pauls Valley, 53-33, and Chickasha 38-19, before taking on No. 3 (3A) Heritage Hall for the 2026 homecoming tilt.

The Chargers pinned a 63-43 loss on the Dragons. The margin was just eight points in the fourth period before coach Matt Lohn began subbing while Heritage Hall continued to play starters.

Jaime Resendiz was the high point scorer in both the Pauls Valley and Heritage Hall games with 12 points in each contest. Kyeston Martin was also in double figures against the Panthers with 10.

Canaan Colburn topped the scoring chart against Chickasha with 14. Drew Blair joined him in double digits with 10.

“We stumbled out of the gate a bit, and thankfully, they didn’t make us pay for the slow start,” Lohn said.

Purcell’s defense limited the Panthers  to 10 first half points.

“I was pleased with that. Offensively, we have to continue to find our groove when playing against a zone. Theirs gave us fits throughout the third and they ultimately outplayed us, cutting our lead down to four.

“We used our pressure and were able to finally steal momentum back and with that we also began to get out in space and run to the offensive end.”

That’s what turned the tide for the Dragons.

“We finished the game more like ourselves, and in hindsight, I’m proud to see how we persevered. Pauls Valley is beginning to figure things out, but we have to be better about playing to our standard no matter who the competition is. Just another lesson learned,” the coach said.

“We played maybe our most complete game of the season to date against Chickasha,” Lohn said.

“The guys were extremely locked-in on the details of the match up and we executed at a high level on both sides of the ball.

“I was impressed with how we were able to get after them on defense, holding them under 20 for the game. That’s buy in! If we can maintain that and continue to trend up scoring the ball, we give ourselves a great chance in every game down the stretch.” Lohn said.

Heritage Hall came out red hot and had the Dragons down 13 at the end of the first quarter.

But the Dragons continued to battle and won the second peiord 14-11.

“We were not going to lay down and stop competing,” Lohn confirmed.

“Heritage Hall is very good and deserves the credit for how they attacked us and took some things away from us with their defense. I know all of our guys have at least one play they would love to have back, but as they say in golf, you gotta play it how it lies.

“We know the margin for error is razor thin against opponents of their caliber and we had too many mistakes to beat them.

“However, I was extremely proud to see we stood our ground, not laying down when they wanted us to and we continued to go right back at them throughout the course of the game,” Lohn concluded.

Coach Toney Cooper’s Dragons got back in the win column with a 53-34 victory over Heritage Hall last Saturday night.

Led by Halle Buchanan’s 11 points, Purcell jumped out to a commanding lead 29-16 at intermission and continued to win every quarter in the game. Lili Del Toro was also in double figures for the Dragons with 10 points.

“After a tough physical game the night before we were looking at a quick turnaround to play a team the complete opposite,” head coach Toney Cooper said.

Heritage Hall likes to push pace and thrive on aggressive defense that creates a lot of turnovers.

“Throw in the fact it was homecoming, we knew our focus had to be on a much higher level. Our girls were ready for the task, turning in their best game performance of the season,” Cooper said.

“I am most proud of our bench,” Cooper said. “They contributed 25 of our 53 points, led by Taygan Winters with eight and Lyric Harding with seven.

“Our reserves impacted the game on both ends. Halle Buchanan set the tone again being dominant on the block and at the perimeter finishing with a game high 11.

“After being named Homecoming Queen, Lili Del Toro turned in another solid performance finishing with 10. She was aggressive getting to the basket and got our transition game going. Total team win and perfect ending to a great homecoming,” Cooper concluded.

The victory ended a skid. The Dragons took a 3-10 record into the Lindsay contest.

The Dragons will host the annual Heart of Oklahoma Tournament this weekend. For details about the tournament see the front page of this week’s Register.