WJHS cagers finish tough down stretch; boys close at 15-4
News-Democrat Staff
WAURIKA — Waurika Junior High’s boys capped one of their best recent seasons by winning two of their last three games and finishing third in the Oilfield Conference Junior High Tournament.
The young Eagles opened the tourney by rolling past Empire, 51-18. After a 44-32 loss to Bray-Doyle, Waurika came back to defeat Ryan, 33-26, taking third in the tourney and closing a 15-4 season.
WJHS’ girls also finished third in the tourney, to put a 10-7 season on ice. The Lady Eagles were edged, 32-28, in a semifinal game, then came back to rock Ryan, 19-4, in the third-place contest.
BOYS
Waurika 51, Empire 18
The Eagles burst out of the blocks with a 15-3 run in the first quarter and had a 28-8 lead by halftime.
The young Bulldogs were never in the contest, trailing 39-12 by the end of three stanzas.
Cameron Bloodworth topped the Eagles with 18 points, while Tyler Fuller had 11 and Robert Gomez added 8.
WJHS also got 5 points each from Blake Latta and Evan Waid, and Mason Wilkerson chipped in 4.
Bray-Doyle 44, Waurika 32
The Eagles played evenly with the Donkeys at the start and end of the game, but in the middle periods, B-D was able to build a lead that WJHS couldn’t overcome.
After trailing just 9-8 at the end of the initial quarter, the Eagles were out-scored 25-13 in the next two stanzas and had a 34-21 deficit going into the fourth.
Fuller and Bloodworth led the Eagles with 9 and 8 points, respectively, while Gomez had 6. Wilkerson had 5 points and Latta 4.
Waurika 33, Ryan 26
Fuller broke loose for a game-high 22 points, the Eagles dominated the odd-numbered quarters and then held off a late surge by the Cowboys to nab the third-place trophy.
After zipping to a 12-4 advantage in the first quarter, Waurika had a 17-10 lead at halftime. The Eagles came out of intermission to salt away the win with an 8-3 flurry.
WJHS also got 6 tallies from Bloodworth, with Wilkerson contributing 3 and Latta 2.
GIRLS
Bray-Doyle 32, Waurika 28
Although they kept pace with the Lady Donkeys in the final three quarters, the Lady Eagles weren’t able to recover from a 13-8 deficit in the first period.
Bray-Doyle had a 16-11 lead at halftime and a 25-20 edge at the third break, before WJHS closed the gap by out-scoring the Lady Donks, 8-7, in the fourth frame.
Staci Brandon paced the Lady Eagles with 15 points. Ana Gomez added 8 and Andrea Kercher had 5.
Waurika 19, Ryan 4
Although the Lady Eagles had some scoring problems, they didn’t struggle nearly as badly as the Cowgirls, who didn’t put a point on the board until the fourth quarter.
Harassed by an aggressive WJHS defense, Ryan trailed 5-0 after one period and 11-0 by halftime. Waurika’s lead had inched to 15-0 by the time the fourth stanza began.
Gomez topped the Lady Eagles with 6 points, Brandi Clark had 5 and Brandon 4. Kercher and Megan Medlinger each chipped in 2 tallies.
