'It paid off for us': Seleh Harmon returns from ankle injury, leads Norman rally past Class 6A No. 11 Moore

NORMAN — Seleh Harmon wasn’t going to squander her opportunity.

The freshman from Norman had been out with a sprained ankle since the Tournament of Champions in December. And in the fourth quarter of Friday night's matchup against Moore, she got her chance to make an impact for the Tigers.

Harmon knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to give Norman a late one-point lead en route to a 54-53 win over Class 6A No. 11 Moore at Norman Gymnasium.

After trailing by 10 points with just three minutes remaining, Harmon’s 3-point shots were the exclamation points on Norman's come-from-behind win.

“We’ve held her out of practice all week,” Norman coach Frankie Parks said. “Yesterday was her first day back just getting in and shooting with us and I’m glad she did because it paid off for us there down the stretch of that game because she hit a couple of big shots.”

Here are some more takeaways from Friday’s matchup:

Fast start

Moore came out prepared on Friday and it showed. The Lions opened the game on a 12-3 run which gave them a big advantage. Madeline Bills and Brooklyn Haywood played a major role in the start, each knocking down 3-pointers. And their teammate Kayla Jones came alive in the second quarter and beyond to finish with a team-high 17 points. Haywood turned in 12 while Bills helped with 11.

But Norman’s Aaliyah Henderson countered with a big performance of her own. She scored Norman’s first eight points of the game, finishing with 11 points in the first half and 19 total to lead them to victory.

Clutch shots

Harmon wasn’t the only one knocking down big shots. Moore's Bills drove in for the layup and scored down the baseline through a foul. And then converted the and-1 bucket to give Moore a 42-34 lead. But Norman’s Henderson then responded with a deep 3-pointer just before the third-quarter buzzer to give Norman some momentum heading into the fourth.

It wasn’t the end of it. Norman’s Shayne Roberts did her part as well. Roberts grabbed a rebound, got fouled and then was sent to the free-throw line where she knocked down both free throws to give Norman a 3-point lead late in the fourth quarter Going on defense, Roberts stole the ball and was again fouled, converting on a free-throw for Norman’s final point of the game.

“She’s one of our big seniors there that stepped up and wanted it,” Parks said.

Undermanned but not outmatched

Norman has already played without Florida commit Myka Perry and Kansas State commit Mikayla Parks all season but the Tigers were also down three other starters on Friday. Keeley Parks, Jordyn and Jaki Rollins were all out but the Tigers stepped in to fill the void with Henderson (19), Harmon (15) and Cedricah Hunt (10) all having big nights.

“I can’t tell you enough about how proud I am of our girls right there,” Parks said. “They could have quit when we were down 10. And we called a timeout and I could see the look in their faces, they still wanted to compete and the final outcome says that so very proud of them.”

BOYS: NORMAN 62, MOORE 59

Conner Goodson knew he could do more.

When the first-year Norman coach Cory Cole asked him to step up this week in practice, the senior didn’t back down. And that was apparent on Friday with the senior fighting for every bucket.

Before the half, Goodson battled through the contact, reached his left hand up, to tip in a buzzer-beater. It was just two of Goodson's 23 points to lead Norman to a 62-59 win over Moore on Friday night.

“It was just another testimony to Connor coming out and leading from the front," Cole said. "He’s a baseball player, he’s a pitcher, he’s a high IQ kid. And you just want a kid like that on your team because he makes winning plays.”

Not backing down

Norman entered Friday night with just one win on the season while No. 5 Moore entered as one of the best in Class 6A. But the Tigers were not intimidated, playing stout defense to take a 16-6 first-quarter lead. For Cole, it was the exact kind of intensity he wanted to see out of his team.

“We’ve been stressing defense in practice," he said. "Our offense comes and goes but defensively I think we can shut down a lot of teams. We just come out and try to get stops we don’t ever want to win the jump ball, we want to set it with our defense and that just gets us going.”

Returning to familiar sights

Moore’s Chiante Tramble looked comfortable in his return to Norman to battle against the team he suited up for just last year. Tramble scored 16 points in his return to assist Marcus Dockins Jr., who led Moore with 18 points in an attempt to bring the Lions back. But Moore fell just one shot short with Tramble 3-pointer just missing the cylinder.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Norman vs Moore basketball: Seleh Harmon returns to lineup, leads rally