East Central girls, three other teams notch first-round TofC wins
BY Staff Reports
Thursday, December 27, 2012
12/27/12 at 4:31 PM
East Central’s girls haven’t rediscovered the chemistry that carried them to a third straight runner-up finish in the Class 5A state tournament last season.
But the second-ranked Cards feel they made a good start in Oklahoma’s Tournament of Champions by pulling away to a 79-44 win over Class A No. 4 Dewar in Thursday’s first round at the Mabee Center.
“We’re getting used to playing better as a team,” senior forward Bria Pitts said. “This is probably the best we’ve played as a team.”
Pitts poured in 22 points, going 4-for-7 from 3-point range, and sophomore Marcia Reed added 21 as the Cards improved to 5-1 while handing Dewar its first loss. The Dragons won their first six games by an average margin of 37 points.
The Cards joined the Jenks girls and Union and Booker T. Washington boys as early first-round winners Thursday and advanced to play at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the semifinals against 4A No. 3 Cushing or Class B No. 7 Erick. Those teams met at 4 p.m. Thursday.
The Jenks girls advanced with a 54-40 win over 3A No. 4 Verdigris behind Jessica Washington’s 22 points, seven rebounds and five steals. The Trojans will play at 8:30 p.m. Friday against 4A No. 1 Anadarko or 2A No. 5 Colbert.
In the boys bracket, Union wore down Class A No. 1 Weleetka 67-56 and Washington broke away from pesky 2A No. 7 Dale in the second half to win 80-57 behind Juwan Parker’s 23 points and four rebounds.
The Redskins and Hornets play at 7 p.m. Friday in a rematch of last year’s triple-overtime thriller in the area tournament. Union won that game 74-70 en route to the Class 6A state title.
