If Saturday’s regional final between the Grove Lady Ridgerunners and the East Central Lady Cardinals proved anything, it’s that the Lady Cardinals, even without Arkansas commit Bria Pitts, are a cut above everybody else in Class 5A, at least on the east side of the state.
The Lady Cardinals, who finished second to Shawnee last season and haven’t lost to a 5A club this season, used their relentless pressure defense to overwhelm Grove in the second half in a blowout loss.
One thing that was clear in both Saturday’s loss and Thursday’s win in the regional semis against McAlester, is that the Lady Ridgerunners are playing some of their best basketball right now. The other thing that’s obvious at this point is that behind the Lady Cardinals is a pack of teams, including Grove, any of whom can claim the other three state tournament berths in the East area.
“Our road to get to the state tournament is feasible,” Grove head coach Richard Bassett said Saturday. “Obviously, you have to show up and play the games but we’re going to be as good as anybody we see the next two games. I just feel like we have a chance and that’s all you can ask for.”
Last year the Lady Ridgerunners were in the same position after a 64-30 loss at East Central in the same round. Grove then defeated Tahlequah in an area consolation game before losing to McAlester in the area consolation championship.
The year they’ll have the same road ahead. Up next is Bishop Kelley, a team that is 13-11 after losing to Collinsville by one point for the third time this season on Saturday. The winner of that game will face the loser between Tahlequah (16-9) and Tulsa Memorial (13-11). All good teams, and all teams that are roughly equal with the Lady Ridgerunners.
“All the teams we’ll face are similar to us athletically,” Bassett said.
The first state tournament berth for Grove basketball since 1994 is within reach, two games away. Now they just have to reach out and grab it.
Ketchum girls face long, tough weekend
With only six players in their rotation, the last thing the Ketchum Lady Warriors wanted to face was the three-wins-in-three-days scenario of the area consolation bracket.
But that’s just what they’ll get after losing to Tonkawa in Saturday’s regional final.
“That’s what we were trying to stay away from,” head coach Sam Fairchild said Saturday. “Now we’re in a do-or-die mode and we’ll have to get after it.”
Making things even tougher for the Lady Warriors will be the teams they have to face in Claremore this weekend, starting with the Quapaw Lady Wildcats. Ketchum won the only regular season meeting between the two teams, a 59-44 win in mid-January that was closer than the score indicated.
“Quapaw’s a good ball club,” Fairchild said. “They’re going to start five seniors and we’re going to start five underclassmen. What we need to realize is when you’re on your last breath, you fight a little harder and they’ll bring a bigger fight to us on Thursday than what they brought in the regular season.”
If they get past Quapaw on Thursday, Ketchum will face the winner between Colcord and Kiefer on Friday, with a possible rematch against Tonkawa on Saturday. The Lady Buccaneers will be decided underdogs when they face undefeated Northeast Academy in the area title game on Friday night.
“If we can get through Thursday and Friday, I’d like another shot at them,” Fairchild said.
