ALVA, Okla. – During lunchtime Tuesday, the Quarterback Club met for its weekly meeting at The Other Place restaurant. It was an opportunity for the group to hear from coaches from the Alva High School and Northwestern Oklahoma State basketball programs.

Feeley on Cashion Tournament

The Alva Goldbug basketball team started the week’s action on Jan. 16 on a high note, walloping Newkirk, 62-20.

The Newkirk game at home was a “great game for us because everybody got to play. We played pretty well and didn’t turn the ball over very much,” Feeley mentioned. “It was one of those games where you simply have to take care of business and not let someone slip up on you.”

The AHS boys were a part of a strong field over the weekend at the Cashion County Line Tournament. In the opening round, the Bugs pulled out and overtime victory over 2A No. 14 Crossings Christian.

“We played pretty well. We turned the ball over a little too much, but we played well and snuck out with an overtime victory,” said Feeley.

The tournament only got tougher as the Bugs took on 3A No. 15 Riverside in the semifinals. A very physical, up-tempo style of team, Riverside jumped out to a 27-2 lead after the first quarter. “We came back and in the second, third and fourth quarters and we played much better. Over the last three quarters we ended up winning by one, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the first quarter deficit.”

Riverside won the game 65-51.

The Bugs dropped the third-place game on Saturday against OCS, 74-49.

“This was a good tournament for us because we got to see people outside of our area, we got to see ranked teams, and we got to see we need to play more efficiently at a fast pace and tempo then maybe some of the teams we’ve fast so far this year,” addressed Feeley. “So all and all it was the worth a trip to go down and play those people, and we learned quite a bit.”

Horn Praises Team’s Tournament Effort

It had been a struggled for a young Alva Ladybugs team the past couple of weeks with a loss to Chisholm at the Wheat Capital Tournament, their first loss to Blackwell since 2007 and a tough defeat at Newkirk. Unfortunately, Newkirk got the best of the Ladybugs again at home on Jan. 16.

Coach Dusty Horn briefly touched on the second loss to the Lady Tigers of Newkirk. He said his squad, “came out a slow and had a hard time scoring that night. We defended okay, we just had a hard time scoring the basketball.”

However, the Ladybugs offense came alive in the opener at the Cashion Tournament against OCS, especially that of Payton Jones and Stephanie Spellman. Both players had career high school games, with Jones finishing with 35 points and Spellman scoring 24 points on eight three-pointers.

“We definitely played our best game offensively of the year that night. It was a huge outpouring of offense for us. We scored 74 points so we felt pretty good about ourselves going into the next night against Dale,” said Horn.

The 74-58 win over OCS set up a showdown with 2A No. 2 Dale on Friday. The Ladybugs didn’t back down from the challenge, forcing the Lady Pirates to overtime, before falling just short in a 46-40 outcome.

“I felt like we played our best overall game of the year. The score didn’t turn out in our favor in overtime, but I really felt like we guarded well. We did a good job guarding the basketball, keeping it out of the paint, and making them earn what they got. It was a tough finish in overtime, but really proud of the effort that night. We took a good step forward.”

Jones continued to rack up the points in the points with 30 against Dale, as well as 30 points in a 46-35 win over 3A No. 13 Riverside in the third-place game.

Horn went on to mention how much of a positive it was to play in the tournament. “The Cashion tournament was a good tournament for us. It was good experience for us, playing some different teams.”

Diesellhorst on Lady Rangers’ Split

The NWOSU Lady Rangers wrapped up the first half of their conference season over the weekend with a pair of Great American Conference games at Perceful Fieldhouse. NWOSU split the games as they fall to Southeastern Oklahoma State last Thursday, 83-76, and rebounded in the Saturday contest with a 75-62 win over East Central.

In the contest against Southeastern on Thursday, the Lady Rangers “had a tough battle with them,” said Diesellhorst. “We had a back and forth game that unfortunately didn’t end in our favor.”

Diessellhorst, in her second campaign leading the Lady Rangers, was overall very positive about the results of the weekend, addressing the resiliency of her squad.

“In the first half (against ECU) we played the best we’ve played offensively and defensively all year. We had a big lead in the first half and hung on in the second half for the victory. It was a good bounce back win for us.”

Northwestern’s women are currently in a four-way tie for fifth place in the GAC with Ouachita Baptist, Southwestern Nazarene and ECU. This week the Lady Rangers head to Arkansas to take on Ouachita and Henderson State, both located in Arkadelphia.