Chatty girls use tough defense to claim Hart title

When Bo Thomason was approached by Chattanooga superintendent Jerry Brown about coaching the Warriors’ girls basketball team, the former Amber-Pocasset coach didn’t need to do much homework because he had seen the talent available in the program from the outside, which made his decision easy.

Saturday evening his club went out and beat Navajo, 44-33, to claim the title in the Jeff Hart Memorial Invitational at the Great Plains Coliseum, using pressure defense to keep the Indians at bay down the stretch.

“I knew from watching them in the past that they played hard, which is the most important thing,” Thomason said after posing with his team for photos. “If the players are willing to give that effort, we can teach them the rest. When I told them we were going to play man-to-man defense, they were rather reluctant. But now they are seeing what that type of defense can produce.

“I told them if they are willing to change; to play better defense, they are capable of winning every game. They had to believe in their ability. Now that they’re playing the defense at the level we need, now we have to get more balance offensively. That’s the next thing we have to do, get more people scoring. Maecy (Fischer) hit some big threes and Maddie (Burns) is getting her points but now we need the others to up their scoring.”

And while the Chatty girls have won 14 games with just two losses, the Warriors still have challenges ahead including facing No. 3-ranked Cyril next week and then will face challenges in the Comanche County Tournament in two weeks. That field includes unbeaten Geronimo, one of the two teams to beat Chatty.

The Chatty defense held Navajo to 13 in the first quarter but after that the Indians scored 8, 8 and 4 in the fourth quarter and that wasn’t enough to hand the Warriors a defeat.

In the end Burns scored 15 to lead the way and Fischer drilled three big threes to provide balance.

The Chatty boys were playing Central High in the late game.

Slick Hills Invitational

Hobart boys struggled in the early going against Apache’s man-to-man defense but in the second half the Bearcats posted a 32-22 scoring advantage to capture the title in the Slick Hills Invitational with a 48-40 victory.

The Warriors were in the game the entire way thanks in part to a 23-point outburst by guard Dom Scott. The senior used his quickness and leaping ability to get inside often against the Bearcats and score. But Hobart countered with good balance led by Justice Johnson with 16. Even 24 hours before the matchup Apache coach Jeff Walter was concerned about stopping Johnson and the senior proved to be able to do enough damage to help his team get the championship.

Walters girls fought highly-ranked Vanoss on even terms for much of the title game at the Apache Event Center but the eastern-Oklahoma crew held on for a tough 42-34 victory.

Walters girls were able to stay close with their pressure defense but Vanoss was also stingy on the defensive end, holding the Blue Devils to single digits in three quarters, allowing 14 in the third and then closing the game by allowing Walters just eight in the final quarter.

Kynlee Edgemon led Walters with 11 but no other Blue Devil player joined her in double figures. On the other side Vanoss didn’t have a player reach double figures but the it had just enough balance to get the win.

Earlier the host Apache girls were able to claim the consolation title with a 49-27 victory over Big Pasture. And the Walters boys earned hardware as well beating Hydro-Eakly, 59-58, for third place.

Midfirst Warrior Classic

Eisenhower girls took advantage of a good matchup to take the seventh-place game by an 87-19 margin, easily the highest point total of the young season for the Lady Eagles.

Cache girls lost to Norman girls, a 6A power, 65-35, while the Cache boys edged talented Classen SAE, 46-43.