The Wewoka Tigers had a very exciting evening Tuesday night as the Class 2A Tigers took on the Class BI Varnum Whippets in two very close and exciting games.

Tuesday night was also Wewoka’s Homecoming as the Tigers elected Cheyenne Tyler as their Queen and Danny Cottrell as their King.

The Lady Tigers and the No. 7 ranked Lady Whippets took to the court first to start the evening.

The Lady Whippets scored the first two points, but the Lady Tigers fought back and kept the game close. The game was tied 11 to 11 with less than a minute remaining in the first but the Lady Whippets edged Wewoka by two points at the end of the frame.

The teams continued to slug it out in the second with Wewoka stepping on the gas. Lady Tigers Leilani Scott and Heisel Sanchez scored 5 points each in the quarter.

The Lady Whippets stuck to their game plan but most of their points came from penalty shots, which Varnum was 9 of 12 from the free throw line.

The Lady Tigers had a three-point lead heading into the third quarter.

Varnum’s head coach Jon Hadley got his girls settled down after the break and the Lady Whippets made their baskets look easy as Varnum took the lead in the quarter. Varnum’s Raylin Gee knocked down two treys in the frame. Wewoka’s Emma Slovacek also knocked down two three-point shots to help keep the game close.

The Lady Tigers had to fight an uphill battle in the final quarter as the Lady Tigers were eleven points behind.

Both teams fought a hard battle in the frame as the Lady Tigers closed the gap within three points with two and half minutes left in regulation. The Varnum Lady Whippets held off the Wewoka rally and sealed the win with another two points to win the battle with a final score of 60-52 Varnum.

Leading for the Lady Tigers was Heisel Sanchez with 21 points, one trey, and was eight of twelve from the free throw line.

Emma Slovacek scored 11 points and had three treys on the evening.

Wewoka as a team had 29 rebounds, three blocks and five turnovers.

Leading for the Lady Whippets was Alyviah Lena with 11 points, one trey, three assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

Raylin Gee scored 9 points, two treys, five rebounds, one block, three steals and was three of four from the free throw line.

Varnum as a team had 59 rebounds, 3 blocks, 14 steals and 24 turnovers.

Next was the highly anticipated #5 in Class 2A Wewoka Tigers and the #5 in Class BI Varnum Whippets.

The home team Wewoka Tigers came out on fire and took the early lead. The defense held the Whippets to five points scored in the frame.

Varnum was down by eight points heading into the second quarter. The Whippets found their momentum and tied the game halfway through the quarter at 14 apiece. The game stayed close with the Whippets taking the lead with less than a minute left in the first half, but the Tigers regained the lead before the break.

Varnum Whippet Daison Hadley and Devyn Fullbright found their three-point range in the second and Bill Stephens of Wewoka scored six points.

The Whippets started the third quarter by making their shots count and took the lead again. Wewoka continued to battle and took a one-point lead at the end of the third.

Both the Tigers and Whippets showed signs of fatigue as they headed into the final quarter.

The Whippets fired up their crowd with some threepoint shooting from Cooper Smith and Ben Suarez to help keep the game close.

The Tigers answered back with some aerial shots from Mike Piza, Trae Woods and Ethan Abel to help the Tigers protect their home court with a final score of 65-54.

Leading the way for the Whippets was Daison Hadley with 14 points, two treys, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals and was two of four from the line.

Cooper Smith and Evan Wise each scored 8 points each on the evening.

Varnum as a team had 27 rebounds, 9 blocks, 4 steals, 19 turnovers and shot 50% from the field.

Leading the way for the Tigers was Bill Stephens with 18 points on the evening.

Mike Piza scored 17 points, four treys and was two of four from the line.

Wewoka as a team had 38 rebounds, one block, eight turnovers and shot 46% from the field.

Varnum has a home game tonight against OCA. The game is set to start at 6:30 p.m.

Wewoka travels to Seminole tonight to take on the Chieftains. The game is set to start at 6 p.m. This will also be Seminole’s homecoming with the festivities starting at 5:30 p.m.

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