By Nick Hampton

Times Correspondent

The Fort Gibson Lady Tigers took the first postseason step to what they hope is a repeat of last year’s success.

Paced by the senior leadership of Jodi Glover with 18 points, the defending state champion Lady Tigers, co-ranked No. 1 in the Okrankings.com Class 4A poll, cruised in the opening round of the Class 4A Area IV Districts with a 61-17 win over Glenpool at Harrison Field House.

With Glover knocking down a  3-pointer to start the game, the Lady Tigers jumped out to a 17-2 lead after the first quarter, thanks in part to 12 turnovers in the quarter by the Lady Warriors.

“Jodi had a great game. It was also nice to see Kirby (Parnell) come in and stroke some shots from outside tonight,”  FGHS coach Jerry Walker said. “Our bench came in and did a good job. It wasn’t a typical game for Julia (Hill) as far as numbers and we’ll need more from her down the stretch. But she contributed on those things that don’t show up in the scorebook like hustle and assists.”

The Fort Gibson defense also played up to its usual tough standards by forcing 42 turnovers and limiting Glenpool to just 6-of-33 shooting (18 percent) as the Tigers won their 15th straight and improved to 23-1 for the season.

Joining Glover in double figures for the Lady Tigers was Parnell with 15 points and CheyAnne Johnson who came off the bench to score 11, nine of them in the last half of the fourth quarter. None of the Lady Warriors (7-16) had more than 4 points for the night

Boys: Fort Gibson 74, Glenpool 62.

Fort Gibson coach Gary Hendrix told his team during the week that despite their sub-par record, the Glenpool Warriors (6-16) were a quick, athletic team and they proved that as they hung tough with the Tigers through the first half.

Hitting 6 of12 from beyond the arc, the Warriors trailed by just six at the half, 32-26 despite Fort Gibson being 6 of 10 from the free throw line. Glenpool did not get to the line. The sparkplug for the Tigers in the first half was senior guard Steven Lanham who had 10 points and finished with 20 for the game.

With Lanham’s steady play continuing in the second half, the Tigers (14-10) had two other major contributors after intermission. One was the center Thomas Keith who had nine of his 15 points in the third quarter and helped the Tigers open the lead to 10 points, 54-44.

“Thomas got off to kind of a slow start,” Hendrix said. “But I think he just decided to play like he’s capable in the second half and when he gets that ball down low, he’s a load to defend.”

The other big spark was junior Jordan Hill who scored 11 straight points half way through the fourth quarter to take the lead from 10 points to 21 and put the game away. Hill also finished the game with 20.

“Coach said we’d have to get up and down the court to stay up with these guys,” Hill said. “In that fourth quarter, we got a lot of outlet passes and breakaways and I was able to hit a lot of those for us.”

Glenpool had four players in double figures with Marquis Fowler leading the way with 13. Nathaniel Broughton had 12, Andre Seymour 11 and Hayden Jackson had 10 points.

Both the Tigers and Glenpool will advance to this week’s regionals tournament at Fort Gibson. Glenpool’s girls will face Wagoner at 1:30 p.m. Thursday followed by the Warriors and Bulldog boys at 3 p.m.. The Lady Tigers will face Cascia Hall at 6:30 p.m. Thursday followed by the boy’s game between Fort Gibson and Cascia Hall at 8 p.m.