Tournaments around the state are wrapping up, and several area teams made their push to the championship games, which are held Saturday.
The Eisenhower boys met a strong Top 5 team in the Edmond Open, while their counterparts battled to the wire with MacArthur in a classic in Altus. Meanwhile, the Elgin girls continued their five-game winning streak in Shawnee at the Bison Invitational.
Ike girls scrape by Mac
It is called a rivalry for a reason.
The Ike and Mac girls took their fierce city rivalry to the court, and it didn't disappoint, as the Eagles squeaked out a close 55-52 win over the up-and-coming Highlanders at the Altus Festival on Friday night.
No. 6 Ike (4-0) was the clear favorite, having dismantled teams with ease through the first three games of the season. The Eagles came into the contest scoring 72 points per game, winning by more than 28 points on average in the process.
Although those stats made Ike quite formidable, Mac was not intimidated in the slightest. The Highlanders (3-1) stormed to a 17-13 lead in the first quarter, and Ike coach Daniel Wall said the Highlanders' intensity caught his team off guard.
"MacArthur was 100 percent amped and ready to play, and I was extremely disappointed in the way we came out and played," Wall said. "We were not prepared, and our energy was not good. We couldn't keep them in front, we got in foul trouble and automatically, our game plan went completely out the window.
"In the future, we have to do a much better job of coming out prepared, and I think we thought were were just going to show up and win, and it doesn't work like that."
The Eagles fought back to reclaim and two-point lead going into halftime, but Jaeda Reed, who scored 29 points against PC North on Thursday, was limited thanks to foul trouble. Reed picked up her fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, finishing with only seven points.
Ginger Reece carried most of the scoring load in place of Reed, tallying 24 points.
With Reed out, the Highlanders built a small lead with four minutes remaining in the ballgame, but it didn't last long.
Foul trouble affected Mac to an even greater extent, as four starters fouled out shortly after the green and yellow gained the advantage. The Highlanders' core could only watch as Ike went on a run in the final minutes to claim the first Gore War victory of the season.
Despite the loss, Mac coach David Vann said he was proud of the way his team competed against a top-ranked opponent.
"With the defense I had in place, I knew we could compete," Vann said. "I'm very happy with how we played because competed. I told the girls I didn't want to give up 70 points, and didn't want to lose by 20. We played defense, and that is our bread and butter.
"We are young, but as long as we continue to improve, we're going to be right there."
Both teams close out play at the Altus Festival today, with Mac playing PC North at 1 p.m. and Ike facing Altus immediately after at 2:30 p.m.
Ike boys' rally falls short
It was a game of ups and downs for the Eisenhower boys.
The Eagles fell into a double-digit hole early in the contest, and despite a furious rally, they were unable to overcome early miscues on the way to 73-68 loss to Class 6A No. 3 Edmond Sante Fe in the Edmond Open semifinals at Edmond North on Friday.
"We actually had to battle a couple of times because they had a double-digit lead," Ike coach Todd Millwee said. "(Sante Fe) has six guys who are going to play in college, and they can just light it up. Our game plan was to stop them on the fast break and force turnovers, but we didn't do a good job of that in the first quarter."
The main reason for the Eagles' early struggles was leading scorer Antonio Gordon getting into foul trouble. As a result, Gordon was forced to sit the entirety of the second and third quarters.
He still managed 18 points, but the lack of depth at the forward position put Ike at a disadvantage.
"That really hurt us because we're still looking for a young guy to step up off the bench, but we hung in there with a really tough team," Millwee said.
The Eagles forged a comeback in the fourth quarter and cut the Wolves' advantage to two points and had a chance to tie or take the lead with less than a minute to play, but they failed to get the upper hand.
Ike couldn't get its final shot to fall, and the Wolves proceeded to tack onto their lead and run out the clock to close out the victory.
Although a loss is never fun to suffer, Millwee said it provides his team a great learning opportunity and a chance to get better moving forward.
"The reason we play in this tournament against all the top 6A teams is so we know exactly what we need to work on," Millwee said. "It's always been successful for us to play in these best teams early. We're going to go back, watch the film and see what we can do better."
RJ Fisher added 16 points in the loss.
The Eagles are now 3-1 and are will be faced with yet another tough task against 6A No. 4 Midwest City in the third-place game at 6:30 tonight.
Elgin girls soar to tourney title game
Having multiple offensive assets can be a valuable resource in basketball, and the Elgin girls reaped the benefits of that on Friday night.
The Owls had no problem making shots in their semifinal matchup at the Bison Invitational, defeating Washington, 48-33, to advance to the tournament finale at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee.
Elgin wasted little time putting the game away, jumping out to a double-digit lead by halftime before eventually pulling away for good down the stretch.
Kilah Ballou led the Owls with 16 points, and Izzy Cummins, who hit three of the squad's four 3-pointers, finished with 9 points. Paige Pendley and Christina Jenkins each added 8 points.
Only three players scored for the Warriors.
After her team defeated two Top 4 team in as many days, Elgin coach Brett Tahah said the amount of weapons the Owls have make them a tough matchup for anyone.
"One thing I love about this team is we can score from anywhere at any time," Tahah said.
Elgin now sports a 5-0 record and will play Class 2A No. 2 Dale in the championship game at 7:30 tonight. The Pirates defeated Kingston in the other semifinal, 56-34.