The Washington girls took home gold at the Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic Basketball Tournament.

It’s Washington’s first time to win the prestigious tournament.

They previously finished second in 2023 and 2024.

The Warriors had wins over Class B No. 2 Kiowa (82-51), Class B No. 1 Lomega (63-34) and Class 4A No. 5 Kingfisher (63-49).

Head coach Kale Simon was proud of his team’s defensive performance throughout the tournament.

“We defended and guarded about as well as we have up to this point in the season,” Simon said. “We still have a lot of growing to do. We can make defense measurable, repeatable and reproducible and we’re fighting to do that every day. I know it sounds cliche, but our defense can be that.”

Kiowa

Washington got out to a quick start against Kiowa with a 22-8 first quarter and they never looked back.

Eternity Self led the team in scoring with 13 points.

Kelby Beller and Hadley Beard were also in double figures scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Lomega

The Warriors held a potent Lomega team to just 34 points in the semi-final game.

Lomega scored a mere seven points in the first, third and fourth quarters in an impressive defensive performance.

“We’re working a little harder at doing our jobs and when everyone does their job it helps you perform at a high level,” Simon said. “We are really good offensively. However, I think we’re learning that when we are intentional about guarding with everything we have, that’s truly what makes us hard to beat.”

Preslee Johnson scored a game-high 16 points in the game and Self had 10 points.

Kingfisher

The Warriors were behind early in the finals against Kingfisher but put together two good quarters in the second and third to come away with the win.

Self led Washington with 13 points.

Johnson and Briley Beller each had 11 to join her in double figures.

With the win, they captured one of the toughest tournaments in the state.

Simon told The Register when he was asked about what it means to win the Bertha Teague Tournament: “I hope it means something to our players and I hope it’s special to the team and our community.”

Washington is now 9-1 this season.

Notes

The Warriors had three players make the All-Tournament Team.

Preslee Johnson was named the Most Valuable Player, while Kelby Beller and Eternity Self were named to the first team.