MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Sports

March 8, 2010

Matchups released for state tournament

Seven area teams have their state tournament path mapped as pairings for classes 2A-6A were announced Sunday.

All opening round games will be Thursday with Muskogee staying on the east side with the Class 6A tournament. The six other area teams in 4A to 2A all journey to the Oklahoma City metro area.

The Roughers, 21-4 and ranked No. 6 in the final Okrankings.com coaches poll, play No. 2 Putnam City West (16-11) in a 7 p.m. first-round contest at the Skiatook Events Center. Muskogee punched their second straight state tournament ticket on Friday by beating Edmond Memorial, a team they could face in a noon semifinal on Friday if both teams survive their initial games. Edmond Memorial plays Midwest City in the 8:30 p.m. game at Skiatook.

Jenks, which eliminated Broken Arrow on Saturday, joins Putnam City, Edmond Santa Fe and Norman North on the opposite end of the bracket. The 6A semifinals will be at Oral Roberts University’s Mabee Center

Fort Gibson’s boys, ranked No. 6 and 22-4 after their area championship win against McLain on Friday, will play defending champion Star Spencer, 21-7 and ranked second, in a 3:30 p.m. game at Oklahoma Christian University. The Tigers won a quarterfinal game for the first time in school history a year ago and the team that beat them in the semifinals, Bishop McGuinness, looms as a possible semifinal opponent again.

Fort Gibson’s girls (No. 4, 24-2), who knocked off defending 4A champ Vinita for the area championship, get No. 7 Weatherford (23-1) at 8:30 p.m. at Oklahoma City University. Vinita and unbeaten Cache, a team FGHS has beaten in a couple of recent state tournament games, are on the other side of bracket and would not meet until the finals, where FGHS has been in three of the last four seasons.

An interesting matchup in Class 3A girls has No. 10 Sequoyah (17-7) hooking up with No. 4 Millwood (23-5), the school that ended the Lady Indians’ quest for a record fourth straight state championship two seasons ago, in a 3:30 p.m. tipoff at Choctaw High School. Sequoyah could go into the game minus Laci Marsden, the move-in from Alaska who began play in January, who injured a knee against Heavener in Saturday’s consolation final at Muskogee Civic Center. She’s scheduled to have an MRI on Monday to determine her status for the tournament.

Sequoyah’s boys, winners of five straight postseason games after a regional loss against Keys, take their No. 4 ranking and 22-6 mark against No. 18 Holdenville at 8:30 p.m. at Moore High School.

In Class 2A boys, Hulbert (25-3), ranked No. 8 and making its first state tournament appearance since 1977, gets No. 10 Dale (22-6) at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Norman High School.

The girls bracket has No. 7 Oktaha (22-2), making its ninth straight state appearance, taking on No. 4 Pawnee at the Fairgrounds in an 8:30 p.m. contest.

The A and B tournaments were this past weekend. Porter boys were eliminated in the first round while Boynton-Moton's girls claimed their first-ever state championship in Class B.

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