The Wellston girls and Meeker boys repeated as champions of the Agra tournament Saturday night, Wellston knocking off Stroud in its championship game, 44-27, and the Bulldogs beating Wellston in their finals, 46-35 Wellston’s girls have plowed through their early competition this year, and the Agra tournament was no exception. The WLTs beat Hanna, 82-15, in the first round and Drumright, 4824, in the semifinals.
They are now 8-0 and ranked No. 10 in the state in Class A, but Coach Chad Hutchinson said his squad hasn’t yet discovered how good it can be.
“We don’t know right now,” he said. “We have aspirations of being in the Big House in the very end and we think we can compete with anyone within our class.
“We had some rough spots the last two days, but I looked out on the floor and there were a lot of times we had freshmen and sophomores out on the floor.
“Any time you have such youth that you’re playing, you’re going to have growing pains, but these girls are super athletic, so dynamic and so fun to coach. And they’re great kids.”
A year ago, the WLTs won their first 21games and were ranked No. 9 in the state. They won their district tournament, but went to a regional at Noble with No. 8 Allen and thirdranked and eventual state champ Cyril, which eliminated them, 52-29.
This year they’re back with one senior - Alexis Fowble - and a deep group of juniors, sophomores and freshmen.
“We can feel very comfortable playing 10,” Hutchinson said. “And then we have some more freshman who just need a little more time and they’ll be stepping in, also.
“So, if you talk about going 15 deep eventually, we can do it.”
In the Agra finals, junior Savannah Gaylord led the scoring with 18 points, sophomore Kamber Goodman had 11 and freshman Callie Mathews had nine.
Camryn Wilson led Stroud with 12 and Jordyn Neeley added six.
Wellston was back in action at Ripley on Tuesday and travels to Carney on Friday.
In the boys’ finals, Meeker used a strong second half to beat Wellston, 46-35. The Bulldogs led by three at the break, but got third-quarter threes from Tristan Bynum, Bryce Bussell and Castin Schafer and went up 31-25 heading into the final quarter.
The Dogs sealed the win by going 8-for-9 from the freethrow line in the fourth quarter.
Aiden Hessman led Meeker with 12 points, Bussell had 11 and Schafer put in 10.
Landon Kulp and Gauge McLin led Wellston with a dozen each.
Meeker is back in action Tuesday at home against Stroud.