The Newcastle Racers basketball team was one game away from being Regional champions, but instead suffered their first post-season loss. The Ada Cougars took the 61-58 overtime win.
Newcastle continues in their quest for a State title by playing in the Area Tournament. The Racers are scheduled to play at 3 p.m. Thursday in Stroud against Hilldale.
Newcastle Head Coach Jessie Brown said Ada played well, and the Racers didn’t convert on a lot of opportunities to break the game open.
The score went back and forth until time expired with both teams at 52 points, and an overtime period to play. The Cougars managed nine points to Newcastle’s six in the overtime period. Senior Chase Sucharda was the leading scorer for the Racers.
Brown said Zach Cragg was the player of the game with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
To be successful against Hilldale, Brown said the Racers will have to play as a unit, and make game-winning plays throughout the contest. Should Newcastle win this game they would play the winner of the McLain-Victory Christian game at 3 p.m. Friday at Stroud.
The Ada game was set up by a Thursday night Regional Tournament opening game pitting Newcastle against Lincoln Christian. The result was a 54-38 Racer victory.
Coach Brown said the Racers beat Lincoln Christian by playing team ball and locking in defensively. He said Carl’Sheon Young did a good job scoring the ball with 25 points, and Tre Martinez set the tone defensively. Brown added that the Racers collectively played good defense in the second and third periods.
Girls in Consolation Finals Newcastle’s Racer girls won games against McLain High School of Science and Technology, and Perkins-Tryon before losing to Harrah in the Consolation Championship. The loss was the Racers’ second of post-season, so their 2023 season was concluded.
The Racers lost to Harrah, 36-32, but won earlier against Perkins-Tryon, 40-32, and against McLain 67-44.
Coach Nichole Copeland said the girls played well against McLain, “Taking care of business.”
Senior Natalie Orr had 21 points and 11 rebounds, freshman Reagan Greenroyd had 12, and senior Leah Bradley and junior Jayden Lassen had 9 apiece to lead Newcastle scoring. Copeland said 10 total players scored during the game, and the Racers survived and advanced.
Their game Friday against Perkins-Tryon was to be a battle, according to Copeland.
She said, “They’re a very well coached team — same song different verse for us — defend at a high level, rebound, execute the little things. Fight, scratch, claw to try and live to see one more day.”
Natalie Orr again led Racer scoring with 19 points, and 16 rebounds — her second double- double.
On February 18, the Racers took their first loss of post-
season in the game with Harrah, 58-49.
Newcastle put themselves in a hole early as the Panthers had outscored them by 27-18 at halftime. In the third period, the Racers gave themselves a chance with Bradley scoring 11 points and her teammates adding 12, while holding Harrah to only 12 total team points.
Newcastle led at the end of the third period by two points, 41-39. The Panthers came out strong in the fourth, however, scoring 19 and holding Newcastle to only eight.
Bradley led scoring for the Racers with a total of 14 points — four of those buckets were three-pointers. Orr had 11 points for Newcastle, and Amber Ellis had 10 points. Greenroyd had nine, while Bella Allen added five.
