14 Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Sports
‘90 champs reminisce
By Christian Favalora
Sports Editor
Thirty years ago, Owasso
girls basketball coaches
Mike Polk and Larry Carik-
er mulled over the blunt
advice they were given
as they drove home from
Muskogee.
Conventional wisdom
said their team would have
to live and die by the zone
defense now that Okla-
homa was adopting five-
on-five rules for girls bas-
ketball, moving away from
six-on-six.
As Polk remembered it, a
coaching friend of his put
it this way, “Nobody plays
man. ‘You’ll have to run a
zone.”
Well, that settled that.
“I told Larry, ‘Well, you
know we’ll be running
man-to-man now if nobody
else is doing it,’ Polk said.”
That was 1988. Polk
started to catch a lot of guff
for committing to man-de-
fense.
Post player Jana Oder
(then Jana Schneider) re-
called coaches were quick
to advise Polk that a man-
defense was flat dumb.
“But I also remember
coach saying, ‘Zone is a
four-letter word,’” Oder
said.
Polk believed he had
the girls to do it. They
reached the state tourna-
ment in 1989, and in 1990
he coached that core group
to the state championship,
where Owasso won its
first basketball title 43-24
against Ponca City.
Saturday afternoon, as
the 2018 Owasso Lady
Rams played for the 6A
championship, five play-
ers from that ‘90 title team
exchanged thoughts in a
group text.
Kari Ayers, Tonya Rober-
son, Beth Son, Anna Pren-
tice, Jana Schneider.
There were mixed feel-
ings. They were thrilled to
see their alma mater win
it again, but of course, for
28 years, they had been
the only champs in town.
And Owasso loves its sports
teams.
Maybe for that reason as
much as any other, they’ve
stayed in touch.
“We’re all still close” Oder
said, “because when you go
through something like
that, it’s a family achieve-
ment. You learn to trust
each other.”
They have families of
their own now, and none
were able to be at the Ma-
bee Center on Saturday to
see No. 3 Owasso defeat No.
1 Putnam City West 53-51.
Someone grabbed a picture
of the Lady Rams receiving
their medals, though, and
A photo from the March 15, 1990 Owasso Reporter shows the 5A state champion Lady Rams.
Photo credit/Jerry Whited.
Owasso senior Terryn Milton, 21, receives her medallion from Owasso Public Schools Superin-
tendent Clark Ogilvie in at ORU Mabee Center on Saturday, March 10.
CHRISTIAN FAVALORA/Owasso Reporter
that picture made its way
into the group text.
“When I saw that, it im-
mediately took me back,”
Oder said. “I remember
Principal (Rick Dossett)
giving us our medals. It’s
amazing to say you’re a
state champion, and that’s
a feeling, having that medal
placed around your neck, I
can’t really describe it to
you. It’s something you
have to experience.”
The 1990 team was
small. Oder was the post.
She was listed at 5-foot-10
but, “I was more like 5-8 or
5-9,” Oder said. “And it nev-
er failed, I was always listed
a few inches taller. I’m sure
people could tell by look-
ing, you know?”
Polk was adamant,
though, and he knew what
principles were most im-
portant. His team was go-
ing to be a rebounding
team, a tough team. De-
fense wins games, he could
often be heard saying that.
“He was an unbelievable
communicator,” Cariker
said Saturday. “He was
great with that team and
they loved him.”
Still, six-man basketball
had been a much slower
pace, and Cariker recalls
Owasso Reporter
Polk consulting boys coach
Kerwin Dees when Owasso
first made the transition.
“He asked him what he
needed to work on to get
this team ready for 5-on-
5,” Cariker said. “Dees told
him, ‘The first thing you
need to do is learn a press
breaker.’”
So Owasso got good
at the press breaker and
played its share of tight
games. They finished the
championship season with
a 23-6 record.
This Lady Rams team,
coached by Matt Sweeney
and assistants Christie
Wilson, Paige Wadley, and
Kriston Hudson, will be re-
membered for its outstand-
ing guard play.
Mya Bhinhar and Terryn
Milton had an air of invin-
cibility with the ball in their
hands. They will play Divi-
sion-I basketball in the fall.
Tiya Douglas, a summer-
time junior transfer from
Fayetteville, melded nicely
with their leadership. She
scored 25 points in a re-
gional game two weeks ago
and fueled a strong second
quarter against Putnam
City West.
Leiloni Culley, the only
player on this roster ap-
» champs, from 1 Milton said. “So we had
that feeling and we were
game was in their op- ready to come out and win
ponent’s hands in the final today.”
seconds. Owasso’s lead disap-
No. 4 Owasso and No. 1 peared with 59 seconds
Putnam City West traded left. Mekayla Furman
the lead three times in the nabbed a steal and a layup
first quarter and set the to tie the game in front of
stage for what looked to be her team’s student section,
a raucous game. and West called a timeout.
It was tightly contested Down the stretch,
throughout, and Owasso’s Milton and Bhinhar each
lead never grew beyond went to the line in the last
nine points. minute, and both split a
At halftime, the Lady pair of free throws.
Rams led 27-20. With 6.5 seconds left,
Entering the fourth Putnam City West in-
quarter, they were up bounded from the far end
41-33. and got the ball in Skanes’
Ce’Nara Skanes, West’s hands. She attempted the
leading scorer with 17 game-tying shot with her
points, took the game over team trailing 53-51, a right-
in the second half. She handed floater five feet
was 6-for-8 shooting in the from the rim, and the ball
final 16 minutes and made bounced left.
four or her five free throw “I was just watching it,”
attempts in that span. Bhinhar said. “It felt like
“She went to work in it was forever, it felt like it
the second half,” Milton was slow motion. When I
said. “I don’t think she was saw it go off the rim and
that aggressive in the first the buzzer sounded, I can’t
half, and in the second explain the feeling I had. I
half, she caught us off was just in shock, and so
guard with how aggressive happy. It’s the best feeling,
she was.” it’s an amazing feeling.”
As Owasso’s lead Owasso finished the sea-
slipped, Skanes and Za- son 26-3 overall, winning
niya Nelson combined for the school’s second girls
25 rebounds and a heck basketball title. The first
of a lot of second-chance was won in 1990.
points. OWASSO 53, PC WEST 51
Remembering a five- PC West 11 9 13 18 -- 51
point loss in the 2016 title Owasso 16 11 14 12 -- 53
game, Bhinhar and Milton Putnam City West (24-4): Skanes
matched Skanes’ intensity 17, Hartsfield 17, Furman 7, McAl-
pin 7, Nelson 2, Nolan 1.
when it counted.
“We were in this situa- Owasso (26-3): Milton 17, Bhinhar
11, Culley 10, Douglas 9, Williams
tion sophomore year and 3, Boone 2, Vancuren 1.
we eended up losing it,”
Regional Final
proaching a post, routinely Monday, Feb. 26 at Owasso High School
guarded a bigger player OWASSO 46, SHAWNEE 37
beneath the basket and Shawnee 5 7 14 11 -- 37
Owasso 10 16 2 18 -- 46
found ways to rebound,
score from mid-range, and Shawnee (21-4): Brooks 14, Tramble 11, Fields 4, Rice 3, Marti-
nez 3, Smith 2.
generally be a menace for
Owasso (22-3): Milton 19, Douglas 10, Boone 7, Culley 6,
opponents. Bhinhar 4.
Rylie Boone, a junior
committed to play softball Area Final
for Oklahoma, was an ab- Thursday, March 1 at Webster High School
solute lock in the starting OWASSO 61, WESTMOORE 50
lineup, a timeless defender Owasso 16 13 11 21 -- 61
who would have worked Westmoore 11 15 2 22 -- 50
nicely in Polk’s 1990 Owasso (23-3): Milton 20, Culley 19, Douglas 11, Bhinhar 7,
scheme. Boone 4.
And this team was deep. Westmoore (21-5): K. Mercer 14, J. Mercer 11, Outon 11, Gillispie
Swingman Sierra Williams 7, Smith 3, Carter 2, Zilajeva 2.
played almost the entire State Quarterfinal
title game, Avery Vancuren
Thursday, March 8 at Memorial High School
came off the bench and
OWASSO 37, EDMOND MEMORIAL 34
made a free throw in the
Edmond Memorial 10 11 8 5 -- 34
fourth quarter – her first
Owasso 10 11 10 6 -- 37
shot of the game – and
Edmond Memorial (20-8): Kat. Levings 11, Norman 8, Talbott 6,
Nylia Finch and Kianna Levings 5, Engram 4,
Cunningham were major Owasso (24-3): Douglas 15, Milton 10, Bhinhar 5, Culley 5,
contributors all year long. Boone 2.
“Only thing these teams
probably had in common, State Semifinal
they were a team and we Friday, March 9 at Mabee Center
were a team, too,” Polk said. OWASSO 48, EDMOND SANTA FE 43
“Edmond Santa Fe and Edmond Santa Fe 3 11 12 17 -- 43
some of the others had too Owasso 10 12 8 18 -- 48
many trying to play one- Edmond Santa Fe (21-6): R. Nero 15, Foy 9, Neal 7, Chambers 5,
on-one. Owasso didn’t, it Walker 5, Jones 2.
was a team. That’s a credit Owasso (25-3): Milton 16, Culley 13, Bhinhar 11, Douglas 4,
Boone 4.
to them, and it’s a credit to
Matt Sweeney.”