The Annual 2024 LRC Conference Basketball Tournament has came and went this year with the Varnum Whippets winning the Championship for the boys and the Varnum Lady Whippets winning the Championship for the girls.

Sasakwa Viking boys took 3rd place.

Girl’s Bracket

The New Lima Falconettes started the tournament off at the Seminole High School site against the Bowlegs Lady Bison. The game was a tough battle with the Lady Bison leading most of the game. The Lady Falcons made a comeback in the fourth quarter, but time ran out. Bowlegs Lady Bison won 31-26. The Falconettes faced the Macomb Lady Hornets Wednesday night. It was another tough battle for New Lima as the Falconettes fell by 5 points again with a final score of 49-54.

The Bowlegs Lady Bison started off their tournament with a win over New Lima with a score of 54-49. The Lady Bison moved on to face the Earlsboro Lady Wildcats Tuesday night. The Lady Bison had an offnight and suffered a tough loss to Earlsboro in a 6-41 loss. Bowlegs moved on to face the Strother Lady Yellowjackets Friday night. The Lady Bison had a slow start to the game and fell behind in the first half. Bowlegs tried to come back in the fourth, but the lead was too much to catch. Bowlegs Lady Bison fell 21-47.

The Sasakwa Lady Vikings started their tournament at the Varnum High School site Monday night against the Mason Lady Eagles. The Lady Vikings dominated the game from the start and won the match 52-26. The Lady Vikings moved on to face the Moss Lady Pirates Tuesday night at the Seminole High School gym. The Lady Viking defense held Moss to only one point in the first quarter. The Lady Pirates closed the gap after the third quarter by 4. Sasakwa went back to work and won 49-40. The Lady Vikings advanced to play the Varnum Lady Whippets Wednesday night. The Lady Vikings struggled in the first half with only 15 points scored. The defense of Varnum proved to be too much and the Lady Vikings fell 32-64. Sasakwa now moved on to face the Earlsboro Lady Wildcats for third place Saturday afternoon.

Saturday’s game with the Lady Wildcats was a battle on both sides. The lead would change hands throughout the game but in the final frame, the Lady Wildcats made their shots count and pulled away for the third-place win with a final score of 43-33.

Chasity Thomas won All Tournament for Sasakwa.

The Strother Lady Yellowjackets started their tournament at the Varnum High School site Monday night. Strother fell to Paden 19-54. The Lady Yellowjackets moved on to play the Mason Lady Eagles Wednesday night at Seminole. The Lady Yellowjackets won the game in a landslide 41-11 victory. Strother now moved on to play the Bowlegs Lady Bison Friday night. Strother jumped out to an early lead and had a 23-10 lead at the half. The Lady Yellowjackets continued with their game plan and beat the Lady Bison 47-21. The Lady Yellowjackets now faced the Moss Lady Pirates for the Consolation Champion Saturday. Strother battled throughout the game and kept it close. The Moss Lady Pirates pulled away at the end and won 43-30.

Brooklyn Turner won the All-Tournament for Strother.

The Varnum Lady Whippets started their tournament at the Seminole site against the Macomb Lady Hornets Monday night. Varnum jumped out to a big lead in the first and never looked back. Macomb scored 12 points in the second but was held to single digits in the rest of the quarters. The Lady Whippets won 53-34.

The Lady Whippets moved on to face the Sasakwa Lady Vikings Wednesday night. The Lady Whippets took the early lead and went on a 13-7 run in the first frame. Varnum continued with their offensive pressure throughout the game. The Lady Vikings made a run at it in the third but could not close the gap in the final quarter. The Varnum Lady Whippets won 64-32. Ashlyn White-Richards, Katherine Morgan and Jenna Lofton each hit 3 three-point shots in the game.

Varnum now faced the Paden Lady Pirates for the Championship Saturday evening. The first quarter was close, but the Lady Whippets edged out Paden 13-11. The defense of Varnum stepped up in the second and held the Lady Pirates to 7 points scored. Varnum had control of the game, but the Lady Pirates fought back in the third and closed the gap by 7 points. The final frame was a tough battle, but the Varnum Lady Whippets kept their cool and won by 10 to win the LRC Championship with a final score of 53-43.

This is the third Championship in a row for the Varnum Lady Whippets and their 11th appearance in the LRC Tournament in the last 13 years.

Kathrine Morgan led the way for Varnum with 22 points, one trey, 3 assists, 8 rebounds and was 3 of 4 from the foul line.

Jeanna Lofton scored 12 points, 4 three-point shots, 2 assists, 6 rebounds and one block.

Ashlyn White-Richards and Shysie Harjo each scored 6 points in the game.

Jenna Lofton and Ashlyn White-Richards won the All-Tournament and Katherine Morgan won MVP for the tournament.

Boy’s Bracket

The Bowlegs Bison boys started their tournament at the Seminole High School site Monday night against the New Lima Falcons. The game was a slugfest throughout. The Falcons edged the Bison in the end with a final score of 35-31. Bowlegs moved on to face the Moss Pirates Thursday afternoon. It was another close game that went down to the wire. The Bowlegs Bison fell short with a final score of 54-61.

The New Lima Falcons took on Bowlegs in their first round of the tournament. The Falcons pulled away in the fourth in a close and tough battle with a final score of 35-31. The Falcons moved on to face the Varnum Whippets Tuesday night. The Falcons scored 11 points in the first but was held to only 1 point in the second. The Falcons never gave up and fought to the end. The Whippets won the match with a final score of 72-30. New Lima had 23 rebounds and 11 turnovers in the game. New Lima now faced the Paden Pirates for a chance to play for the Consolation Championship Friday afternoon. The Falcons could not get things going in the game and fell to the Pirates 35-70.

Strother Yellowjackets faced the Paden Pirates in their first round and controlled the game from the start. Strother won big with a final score of 74-26. Strother was now pitted against the Varnum Whippets in their next round Thursday night. The Yellowjackets went on an 18-13 run in the first. Strother fell behind in the second and tried to play catchup the rest of the game. The Yellowjackets came up short with a final score of 50-64. Michael Kanard scored 19 points in the game for Strother. The Yellowjackets took on Sasakwa for third place Saturday. Strother fell behind in the first half and fought an uphill battle the rest of the way. The Yellowjackets could not catch the Vikings and lost the game with a final score of 45-76.

The Sasakwa Vikings started their tournament against the Mason Eagles Tuesday night at the Varnum site. The Vikings dismantled the Eagles with a score of 73-18. The Vikings now faced the Earlsboro Wildcats in their second round Thursday night. The Vikings fought a good fight but came up short with a final score of 60-67. The Vikings now faced the Strother Yellowjackets for third place Saturday afternoon. Sasakwa jumped out to an 20-12 lead in the first. Micah Wheeler knocked down two treys to help the Vikings stay in the lead. Strother didn’t have an answer for the Vikings in the second half as Ayden Livesay, Mason Palmer, Kaisyn Shaw, Thad Harjo, Josh Jones and Nathaniel Gentry put on an ariel display of three-point shooting in the second half. The Sasakwa Viking won third place at the LRC Tournament. With a final score of (Continued from Page 5) 76-45.

Josh Jones, Micah Wheeler and Darius Henderson were all named to the All-Tournament team.

The Varnum Whippets started their tournament at the Seminole High School gym Tuesday night against the New Lima Falcons. The Whippets dominated the first half with a score of 46-12. Varnum went on to win the game 72-30 with Kylan Mack scoring 13 points and Daison Hadley scoring 11 points in the game.

The Whippets moved on to face Strother in their next round Thursday. Strother took the early lead in the first quarter, but 12 points was scored by Ruben Zapata, Adrian Vigil hitting a three-point each and Trenten Mack knocking down two treys. The Varnum Whippets moved on to the Championship game against their LRC rival, the Earlsboro Wildcats. The Whippets came to play on Saturday evening. The Whippets went on a 16 to 9 run in the first frame. The Wildcats closed the gap in the second and held the Whippets to 7 points scored in the second. Earlsboro was down by 2 heading into the half.

Both teams came out firing on all cylinders in the third. Varnum added to their lead by two points heading into the fourth quarter. Varnum was 40-36 at the top of the final frame. Both the defense and offense of the Whippets stepped up in the quarter to put the game away. The Varnum Whippets won the LRC Championship with a final score of 60-47. The Varnum boys are undefeated with a record of 9-0.

With the win, Head Coach Jon Hadley has now won 400 games as the boy’s coach.

Kylan Mack scored 17 points, 1 assist, 9 rebounds, 1 steal and was 1 of 3 from the foul line.

CJ Benard had 14 points, two treys, 3 assists, 3 rebounds and was 2 of 6 from the line.

Jon Madkins had 14 points, 3 assists, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks and two steals.

Daison Hadley had 12 points, two treys, 3 assists, 1 rebound, 4 steals and was 2 for 2 from the line.

CJ Benard and Kylan Mack won All Tournament and Jon Madkins won MVP for the tournament.

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