Class A girls basketball: Okarche, Riverside, Seiling & Caddo advance to state semifinals

Editor's note: The individual player scores provided for Seiling were inaccurate. They have since been corrected at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Class A girls basketball state tournament started Wednesday at State Fair Arena. Here's a look at what happened:

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Riverside 43, Vanoss 39

Karliey Parker couldn’t have had the ball in a more intense situation.

The guard from Riverside, dribbled around a screen in the final minute as Riverside was tied with Vanoss. Parker, who only needs a sliver of room to create, slid between two defenders and laid the ball up with her left hand off the glass.

The shot fell through the cylinder and the Riverside crowd that nearly doubled the other fandoms in attendance on Wednesday rose to its feet in excitement. The score gave Riverside the late lead which set the Braves up to knock off another milestone this season.

In its first state tournament appearance, Riverside took down Vanoss 43-39 for its first state win to advance to the state semifinals.

“We already had the confidence last year and believed that we should, but we fell short,” Riverside coach James Kelley said. “This year, it really gave us a drive to make sure we made it this year… When it comes down to it, we were able to pull it out and that’s what it’s all about at this point.”

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Riverside (26-1) made just one 3-pointer as it dominated the painted area. Terayna Jones, a post in her first year of organized school basketball, finished the game with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. It was her impact that made much of the difference.

“She isn’t really well known but she really showed her talent level tonight,” Kelley said. “She stepped up and we really needed it tonight.”

Coming out, Riverside did not look like it was making its first state tournament appearance. The Braves were attacking on all cylinders, stunting a seasoned Vanoss team in the first half.

And their confidence only grew into the second half, even though Vanoss (24-4) was making runs of its own behind Avery Ellis, who finished with 19 points and seven rebounds while Madi Faust followed with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Riverside pulled out the victory as they were led by Jones, who was anchored by Karliey Parker, who had 11 points and six rebounds.

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Okarche 60, Cyril 55

The second scheduled girls state quarterfinal basketball game got off to a rocky start.

Not because of poor shooting or a plethora of fouls, but because of the scoreboard at State Fair Arena malfunctioning before the opening tip, delaying any action for 15 minutes as OSSAA officials tried to repair the issue.

But unable to find a solution, the Okarche (24-5) and Cyril (24-5) matchup began without it. The teams and officials used the timers on top of each basketball goal for the game clock, and the announcer updated those in attendance with the score after each basket by speaking into the microphone.

But outlasting the technical difficulties, Okarche was able to overcome Cyril to earn a 60-55 win. Okarche moves on to the state semifinals for the second consecutive season.

“It’s tough not to know what’s going on up above,” Okarche coach Haley Mitchel said of the scoreboard issues. “But the score table did a great job and benches did a great job of letting us know, but definitely a tough situation.”

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Okarche and Cyril were in a close battle throughout the first half, with Cyril holding a slight edge for the majority of the time. But Okarche took its first lead with just one minute left in the second quarter. With a scoring surge of Okarche’s Tyson Endres, Emma Stover and Jadyn Rother, the Warriors outscored Cyril 19-11 in the period.

The difficulties at State Fair Arena didn’t end with the shot clock. With eight seconds left in the third quarter, two different officials called something different on a blocking-charging play. The three officials met for about two minutes before bringing the Cyril and Okarche head coaches over to discuss. It ended with Cyril's starting forward Whitney McHugh fouling out.

Okarche outlasted Cyril from there, scoring in the painted area and knocking down free throws. The Warriors made 11-of-15 free throws on the night.

Stover led Okarche with 20 points, followed by Endres with 17 and Rother with 10. Together, the trio outlasted Cyril which was led by Bradi Harman, who had 31 points.

“I was proud of them for grinding it out,” Mitchel said. “We missed some big shots that we needed to hit but we stayed with the rebounds, stayed with the putbacks and I think that made a big difference."

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Caddo 49, Oklahoma Bible 37

Emily Robinson came around the screen with one thing on her mind.

Score.

That’s what she did. And kept on doing.

Robinson, the guard from Caddo, took one dribble into the lane and then threw a right-handed floater over two Oklahoma Bible Academy defenders and watched it fall through the cylinder.

The score was many for Robinson as she helped Caddo (25-2) come from behind to take down Oklahoma Bible Academy 49-37 to advance to the state semifinals. Robinson led all scorers in the contest with 25 and 13 rebounds, completely taking over the game offensively.

Robinson needed a big performance after Oklahoma Bible Academy (24-4) got off to a fast start, posting an 11-0 run.

“We just had a bad start,” Caddo coach Kolby Johnson said. “Seemed like they hit their first three shots. And I was waiting, I didn’t want to burn a timeout but I ended up doing it anyway. I just told them, ‘It really doesn’t matter, we’re going to have to go stop them from here on out.’ And we did that.”

Coming out of the timeout, Caddo took over and it had a lot to do with the scoring of Robinson, an Oral Roberts commit, and the playmaking of Sooners' softball commit Kadey Lee McKay. Robinson took over, finishing with 15 first-half points, to give the Bruins a one-point lead.

Caddo’s Jaycie Nichols helped Robinson with 12 points and seven rebounds while McKay turned in 10 points. Oklahoma Bible Academy’s Leah Titus finished the game with 10 points, followed by Conley Cayot (9) and Clara Caldwell (7).

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Seiling 76, Quinton 40

Braci Nyberg quickly put her hip on the Quinton ball hander and pressured the dribble.

Even though Quinton (23-7) had just inbounded the ball underneath its own basket, Nyberg, the junior guard from Seiling (25-1), wasn’t going to give up any more room.

She reached her hand in and stole the ball away. Nyberg turned and saw Kenly Gore under the basket and bounced it to her. Gore laid it up for an easy score.

The defending champs defensive intensity remained consistent on the night and it catapulted them to victory.

Seiling defeated Quinton 76-40 in the Class A state tournament quarterfinal. The Wildcats tallied 31 steals and forced 34 turnovers in the win.

Even though Seiling got off to a slow shooting start, making just three of its 17 3-point tries, it led due to its defensive prowess. Seiling grabbed 16 steals in the first half and was able to cruise from there.

Quinton’s Bailey Nester was a bright spot for the Savages in the first half. She made three 3-pointers in the first half, including one from the OKC Fairgrounds logo about four feet behind the 3-point line. She finished with 13 points to tie with teammate Alexis Purdom.

But the duo wasn't enough to overcome Kenly Gore and the Cats. Gore scored 17, followed by Nyberg and Teagan Hamar with 16 and Keirstin Briggs who had 13.

—James D. Jackson, Staff writer

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSSAA Class A girls basketball state tournament quarterfinal scores