Broken Arrow sweeps Tigers in tourney openers

Thursday, December 4, 2008

WILLARD, Mo. -- Broken Arrow (Okla.), a school about three times bigger than Fort Scott High, swept the Tigers' basketball teams on the opening night of the Willard Fort-State Classic here Thursday night.

Fort Scott's girls fell to Broken Arrow, 58-44, while the boys lost, 71-39. It was the season opener for both FSHS teams while both Broken Arrow teams were playing their second.

Host Willard also pulled off a sweep with both teams beating Heritage High School of Rogers (Ark.). Willard girls won 48-17 while Willard boys won 50-25. These were also the season openers for Willard while the teams from Heritage -- which doesn't have a senior class -- were each playing the third game in school history.

Fort Scott plays Willard tonight with the girls' teams squaring off at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:30. Meanwhile, Broken Arrow's teams will play Heritage. The girls' game will start at 4:30 with the boys' contest at 9.

Saturday, Fort Scott and Heritage start things off with a girls' game at 1 p.m. Then Willard and Broken Arrow girls will play a 2:30 followed by Willard-Broken Arrow boys at 4. Fort Scott and Heritage boys will face off in the final game of the tourney at 5:30. Following that game, the All-Tournament Teams and sportsmanship award winners will be announced.

Broken Arrow girls 58, Fort Scott 44.

Fort Scott's girls fought to get within one point with 2:40 remaining in the third quarter But Broken Arrow (2-0) responded with a 13-2 run that lasted well into the final stanza of what ended up a 58-44 win for the Oklahoma squad.

Tiger girls trailed by 11 points, 21-10, early in the second quarter but managed to trim the deficit to 35-30 by halftime.

Chelsea Dennis scored Broken Arrow's first four points of the second half. as the Tigers missed their first eight shots from the field. But Monica Dikeman and Jolee Sharp both took steals in for layup to spark a run that would bring Fort Scott within 39-38.

Dennis and Taylor Lewis, who combined for 37 of Broken Arrow's points, combined to score the next nine points. Fort Scott didn't get on the board again until Sharp stuck back her own missed free throw with five minutes to go.

Brooke Scott and Lewis scored back-to-back for Broken Arrow to give it a 52-40 advantage. The Tigers would never get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Lewis led all scorers with 20 points, 10 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Dennis added 17 points, eight of those in the third.

Dikeman led Fort Scott with 14 points in her first varsity start while Sharp added 11.

The Tigers shot only 29 percent from the floor as they made 17 of 58 field-goal attempts. Broken Arrow shot 57 percent on 21 of 37.

Broken Arrow boys 71, Fort Scott 39.

Fort Scott struggled with shooting and turnovers. The Tigers shot only 28 percent from the field, making 13 of 47 field-goal attempts, and committed eight more turnovers than Broken Arrow, 18-10.

The teams traded three-point goals to start the game. But then Broken Arrow went on a 12-2 run to go up 15-5 with a little over a minute to go in the first quarter.

The deficit was 31-13 before Gary Floyd hit a couple of shots midway through the second to break a Tiger drought during which they had only managed three free throws in about 3 1/2 minutes. But Broken Arrow still held a 44-22 lead at halftime.

Broken Arrow came out strong to start the second half, holding the Tigers to one-of-15 shooting to start the third period. That helped BAHS outscore Fort Scott 14-2 as they extended the lead to 58-24.

Floyd was the only double-figure scorer for the Tigers as he finished with 14 points. Alex Barner scored nine and Gabe Quick had eight off the bench, including two three-point goals.

Seth Dennis led Broken Arrow with 15 points while Jake Toupal added 12 and Drew Howerton scored 11. Broken Arrow shot 54 percent through the first three quarters on 22 of 41.

Rebounds were even at 30-30. Cory Shankel grabbed seven for Fort Scott.

NOTES -- The boys' sportsmanship award is named after Dave Regan, a former Fort Scott Middle School teacher and FSHS basketball and baseball coach who died in an accident at his own home in 2003....

Perhaps the tournament should be called the "Tri-Tiger Classic." Fort Scott, Broken Arrow and host Willard all call their teams the Tigers. Heritage chose "War Eagles" for its mascot....

Broken Arrow's girls were ranked No. 6 in Oklahoma Class 6A coming into the contest. They won their season opener Tuesday night with a 77-47 win over Talequah-Sequoyah, a Oklahoma Class 3A school. Lewis scored 23 points in that game...

Broken Arrow's boys, who qualified for the Class 6A State Tournament in Oklahoma last season, also played Talequah-Sequoyah on Tuesday night. The Tigers won 66-60 as Toupal scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half....

Heritage's girls came into Thursday's action with two games already under their belts. The War Eagles (1-2) opened the season on the road at Miami (Okla.) November 25. Tuesday night, they hosted Alma (Ark.) and won, 33-30....

Heritage's boys entered the tournament 0-2 but their opponents were not listed on the school's Web site....

Girls

FORT SCOTT: Sharp 5-17 0-1 11, Rienbolt 3-12 2-7 8, Bingesser 2-6 0-0 5, Dikeman 5-16 2-2 14, R.Allen 0-2 0-0 0, Therwhanger 2-4 1-4 5, McDermed 0-1 1-2 1. TOTALS: 17-58 6-16 44.

BROKEN ARROW: Lewis 7-16 4-4 20, Dennis 6-11 5-7 17, Morgan 1-2 0-0 2, Hopkins 0-0 2-2 2, Hill 0-1 0-2 0, Scott 1-1 0-0 2, Bledsoe 3-3 2-2 8, Santiago 3-3 0-0 7. TOTALS: 21-37 13-17 58.

Fort Scott................ 10 20 8 6 -- 44

Broken Arrow.......... 16 19 9 14 -- 58

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 4-12 (Dikeman 2-8, Bingesser 1-1, Sharp 1-3), Broken Arrow 3-11 (Lewis 2-9, Santiago 1-1, Dennis 0-1).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 16, Broken Arrow 18. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 28 (Sharp 6), Broken Arrow 32 (Dennis 9). Assists: Fort Scott 5 (Rienbolt 3), Broken Arrow 4 (Lewis 2). Turnovers: Fort Scott 26, Broken Arrow 30. Steals: Fort Scott 16 (Sharp 7), Broken Arrow 12 (Lewis 5). Blocked shots: Fort Scott none, Broken Arrow 2 (n/a).

Boys

FORT SCOTT: Karleskint 1-4 0-0 3, Clements 0-3 3-8 3, Floyd 5-11 3-5 14, Barner 3-9 2-2 9, Boyd 0-3 0-1 0, Shankel 0-5 0-0 0, Knopp 1-1 0-0 2, Norris 0-4 0-0 0, Quick 3-4 0-0 8, King 0-3 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-47 8-16 39.

BROKEN ARROW: Toupal 4-9 3-5 12, Reed 1-2 0-0 3, Howerton 4-8 1-2 11, Waymire 2-2 0-2 5, Se.Dennis 5-14 2-2 15, St.Dennis 3-4 0-0 6, Maynard 2-2 4-4 8, Grant 2-2 0-0 4, Land 2-2 0-0 4, Gaynor 0-0 1-2 1, Walton 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 26-42 11-17 71.

Fort Scott............... 11 11 9 8 -- 39

Broken Arrow.......... 23 21 18 9 -- 71

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 5-14 (Quick 2-3, Floyd 1-1, Barner 1-1, Karleskint 1-3, Shankel 0-1, Clements 0-2, King 0-3), Broken Arrow 8-18 (Se.Dennis 3-7, Howerton 2-4, Waymire 1-1, Reed 1-2, Toupal 1-4).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 14, Broken Arrow 15. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 30 (Shankel 7), Broken Arrow 30 (Waymire 5). Assists: Fort Scott 3 (Floyd 2), Broken Arrow 4 (four with 1 each). Turnovers: Fort Scott 18, Broken Arrow 10. Steals: Fort Scott 1 (Clements), Broken Arrow 11 (Se.Dennis 2). Blocked shots: Fort Scott 4 (Knopp 2), Broken Arrow none.