Newcastle’s girls basketball team sits at 9-7 on the year after hosting last weekend’s 2024 Sweet Pea Invitational, and losing to Piedmont in the third place game.
The Lady Racers beat Class 6ALawtonEisenhowertostart thetournament,61-42,butthen lost to Class 5A Lawton MacArthur, 56-52. This set up the third place rematch game between Newcastle and Class 6A Piedmont, which the Wildcats won, 41-39.
Coach Nichole Copeland said, “We played Lawton MacArthur in the semis of our tournament. We got off to slow starts in both the first and third quarters, giving up a 7-0 run to start the game and a 8-0 run to start the 3rd quarter. They have an enormous amount of size that our kids battled and battled all night long.”
She said Brylee Scott and Amber Ellis were warriors down low on that end, and for the most part, the Newcastle guards handled their pressure extremely well.
“We executed in the half court and shot the ball well,” Copeland said. “It very well could have been our best shooting night of the season so far. We battled back from both of those deficits and competed to the very end. We just came up a few plays short.”
Copeland said the run to start the game forced Newcastle to call timeout and “have a little wake up call.” She said, “But we battled back to tie it at 14 to end the first quarter. The second quarter was a backand- forth battle. Leah Bradley and Reagan Greenroyd hit big shots in the second half and Bella Allen was aggressive looking for her shot and made plays, as well. Ava Snider came in and hit two big threes in the second.”
Newcastle came out of the half down one, but then the deficit swell to eight.
“We had another wake up call, and, credit to our kids and their growth, we responded and fought back to make it a game again,” Copeland said. “It was a back-and-forth battle the rest of the way. We just had a few too many unforced mental lapses and they made a few more plays.”
Copeland said she was proud of the way everyone played.
“The scoreboard didn’t bounce our way tonight, but I could not be prouder of this team,” she said. “Mac is a top 8 team in Class 5A and we gave them everything they wanted and more. It’s a game we still feel like we could’ve and maybe should’ve won, but the effort and the heart from top to bottom from our girls hopefully propels us forward going into the homestretch of our season.”
For the game, Bradley matched a career high with 20 points including six made threes. She made six threes the previous night, as well. Greenroyd had 15 points. Allen and Snider had six apiece, and Ellis had five points.
For the third place game, the Lady Racers were matched up with the same Piedmont team that beat them in December in the Harrah Tournament, 52-38. Copeland said Newcastle is a different team now than they were during the earlier match. The Lady Racers did take the loss Saturday, but this time it was only by two points.
Racer Basketball
Newcastle’s Racers beat Class 5A Noble, 77-47, to open up their play at the Sweet Pea Invitational, but then lost to Lawton MacArthur, 53-48. The loss moved the Racers to the third place game where they took on Class 6A Enid. The Racers won, 53-46.
The Racers are ranked number 20 in Class 4A and have a record of 10-6.
