MILESTONE NIGHT: Bartlesville Bruins reach 10th victory; Lady Bruins battle hard in 'L;
Bartlesville High’s boys’ basketball team reached another milestone in the program’s colorful revival.
On Tuesday, the Bruins crunched host Sapulpa, 80-62, to improve to 10-5 on the season — Bartlesville’s first double-digit win season since 2018-19.
Bartlesville is now only two wins away from providing head coach Clent Stewart with his second-winningest season during his eight-year tenure.
In addition, the Bruins have an opportunity Friday to win four-in-a-row — which would be a first in the Stewart Era.
Small surprise the surging Bruins pulled away Tuesday from a struggling Sapulpa squad.
But, the Lady Bruins didn’t fare as well.
Sapulpa won, 61-42 — although it must be noted Sapulpa is ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 5A.
Following are summaries of Tuesday’s games.
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Girls: Sapulpa 61, Bartlesville 42
As they have all season, the Lady Bruins showed no fear in going up against the Sapulpa Lady Chieftains (11-4), who are the defending Class 6A state champions.
Maider Ruiz dialed in an early three-pointer to put Bartlesville (4-12) on the board.
T’Keitha Valentine and Mikka Chambers also added to Bartlesville’s point total in the first quarter to try to keep pace with Sapulpa.
Sapulpa led by a single-digit, 16-10, going into the second period.
But, Sapulpa put on a powerful push early in the second quarter to go ahead by 16 points before Ragen Hodge put in two free throws to try to jump-start Bartlesville.
Chambers scored late in the quarter and Bartlesville trailed by 16 points at halftime, 32-16.
Not great — but within the outer borders of striking distance.
Valentine came on strong in the second half, scoring 10 points in Bartlesville’s valiant effort to challenge Sapulpa.
The Lady Bruins narrowed the margin to 10 points, 32-22, following a Valentine deuce.
But, Sapulpa answered with a 16-9 run to extend the lead to 17, 48=31.
Kate Gronigan and Grace McPhail both scored in the fourth quarter for Bartlesville, which tried to finish strong.
Valentine scored a team-best 13 points for the game, followed by Chambers with 10.
The Lady Bruins, who are coached by Justyn Shaw, will be primed to get back on the winning track when they play host at 6:30 p.m. Friday to Tulsa Washington (6-9).
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Boys: Bartlesville 80, Sapulpa 62
The Bruins (10-5) scored 80-or-more points for the second time this season, and surpassed 70 points for the eighth time in 15 games.
David Castillo skinned the nets for 27 points despite sitting out a few minutes in the blowout.
Nick Smith added a career-high 15 points and Jordan Carter broke his recent scoring struggles by pumping in 14 points.
Sapulpa displayed plenty of spunk early to hang close.
Aadhi Ayyappan’s bucket elevated Bartlesville to a 17-15 lead; Bartlesville never gave up the lead after that — but Washington made a couple of gritty runs.
Dayton McCall widened the gap to seven points, 22-15, on a deuce.
After Washington went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to one point, 31-30, Bartlesville grouped.
Castillo scored on back-to-back possessions to re-energize the Bruin offense.
By halftime, Bartlesville had pulled back out to a nine-point lead, 41-32.
The third quarter was made-to-order by Stewart.
The Bruins outscored Sapulpa, 23-11, during the period to romp to a 64-43 advantage.
Smith, Ayyappan, Castillo and Carter combined for most the firepower in the third stanza.
Smith opened the fourth period scoring and also buried a trey in the quarter to achieve his 15-point milestone.
McCall wrapped up the scoring.
The Bruins went to battle without starting forward Kent Girard, who was recovering from injury.
Bartlesville plays host at 8 p.m. Friday to Booker T. Washington. This will be a rematch of the ConocoPhillips/Arvest Invitational boys championship game three weeks earlier, won in a close decision by Washington.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High basketball squads right hard in split
