Teams Play Final Games in Basketball Tournament

Teams wrapped up the Comanche County High School Basketball Tournament on Saturday, January 22, at the Great Plains Coliseum.

Geronimo Blue Jays and Indiahoma Warriors tipped off first, with Blue Jay Dayson Gomez making 3 and Warrior Joseyah Johnson with a response, and the first would end Geronimo 15 to Indiahoma 11.

During the second, Indiahoma would start with a bucket, and the half would finish Indiahoma 31 to Geronimo 24.

Indiahoma would continue its lead into the third, and Blue Jay Sergio Maldonado would sink 2.

Blue Jay Maldonado would then go on to tie the game 43 to 43 with a response from Warrior Jacob McClung. After a close fourth, the game would finish Geronimo 48 to Indiahoma 45.

Blue Jays would go on to win the boys' consolation.

“It felt good. We talked about it yesterday that we wanted to come here tomorrow, and so that’s exactly what we did, and we did it as a team, and that’s all we really needed,” Maldonado, a center and power forward for the Geronimo Blue Jays basketball team, said.

Sterling Lady Tigers took over the first frame against Walters Lady Blue Devils with a 3 from Lady Tiger Ashlyn Clift.

Sterling would continue the pressure, and by halftime, the team would be up 20 to Walters’ 15.

Going into the second half, Walters would begin a scoring streak and close the gap, Sterling 28 to Walters 24.

Sterling would start the fourth with two buckets, and Walters would follow through at the end of the frame and finish the game with Sterling 40 to Walters 37.

The Lady Tigers would take third place in the girl’s championship.

“I’m pretty proud of us,” Clift, a guard for the Sterling Lady Tigers, said. “We’ve had a rough season here lately having not as many girls. But I’m really proud of our team; getting just to third place is really great. I wish we were in the championship tonight, but we worked our butts off with what we had, and I think we did really good.”

Chattanooga Warriors and Walters Blue Devils were next on the hardwood with a first frame score of Walters 17 to Chattanooga 14.

Both teams would continue the close game with an early bucket from Blue Devil Jermaine Chasenah and a buzzer-beater from Chattanooga to finish the quarter Walters 29 to Chattanooga 27.

In the third, the Blue Devils would begin making a lead of 46 to the Warrior's 32.

Warrior Michael Paddyaker would be the last to score for Chattanooga, and the final score would be Walters 66 to Chattanooga 42.

Blue Devils would take third place in the boy’s championship.  

“Just go out there and play as a team and have fun, really,” Chasenah, a shooter for Walters Blue Devils, said. “Really, just playing as a team is probably the best thing.”

Championship games began with Geronimo Lady Blue Jays and Chattanooga Lady Warriors at 6:30 p.m. with a close first frame of Chattanooga 9 to Geronimo 7. 

Lady Blue Jay McKenzie Huffman would end the second with three seconds left, finishing the half with Geronimo 17 to Chattanooga 14.

Into the second half, Chattanooga would get a bucket, and Lady Blue Jay Abbey Huffman would respond with a 3 going into the fourth, Geronimo 29 to Chattanooga 19.

In the final frame of the girls’ championship game, Geronimo would hold Chattanooga scoreless with not one but three 3’s from Abbey Huffman to finish the game Blue Jays 42 to Warriors 19.

Blue Jays would take the girls’ championship title.

“It feels really good because I haven’t really been hitting them, but tonight we really needed them, and it kicked in,” Abbey Huffman, an all-around player for the Lady Blue Jays, said.

Big Pasture Rangers and Sterling Tigers were the last teams to face off on Saturday night, and the first ended with a tied score of 14 to 14, with Tigers being the first to score.

The tie would be short-lived, with Tigers taking the second 26 to Rangers 20.

Tigers would be up 43 to Rangers 35 in the third after a second-tied score; Sterling would hold Big Pasture scoreless for the last 2 minutes of the frame.

Tigers would have two back-to-back scores and make a basket with about 20 seconds left, finishing out the game with Sterling 59 to Big Pasture 49.

Sterling would take home the championships for the second time in a row.

“It just feels good because we’ve been working hard this, this whole year, and it feels great to get back-to-back championships,” Aydan Mithlo, a forward on the Sterling Tigers, said.