Rest of county joins playoff fun

Small schools started last week.

The rest of the county joins this week.

By Saturday night, all Kingfisher County schools will have begun their basketball playoff quests.

Half of them - Okarche (Class A), Lomega (B-II) and Dover (B-II) - are entering their regional round this week. All six teams representing those schools will do so in the winner’s bracket after winning district titles last week (see related stories inside).

The other half - Kingfisher (4A), Hennessey (3A) and Cashion (2A) - will play for district titles this week.

Cashion goes first as it hosts Watonga on Thursday night.

Hennessey will follow on Friday night when it hosts Casady.

KHS will be the last to start its trek as it plays host to Cushing on Saturday.

Evening sessions will begin at 6 p.m. with the girls and boys games will follow at about 7:30 p.m.

Following is a bit more about the roads for those three schools: Class 4A

Kingfisher will host a 4A basketball district, but no playoff games beyond that.

KHS features the sixthranked girls team in the class while the boys are No. 10.

They will host Cushing in a two-team district this weekend.

After that, the teams will head east down State Highway 33 for a regional on Cushing’s home court.

Kingfisher and Cushing are paired with the district that will feature Cleveland and Bristow in the first round of the regional. Other regional teams will be Mannford, Tulsa Central, North Rock Creek and Seminole.

The area is then even further down S.H. 33 at Kellyville High School.

Teams from the other regional joining KHS at area could include Perkins-Tryon, Berryhill, Locust Grove, Skiatook, Catoosa, Metro Christian (boys only), Eufaula (girls only), McLain and Vinita.

On the girls’ side, Locust Grove joins KHS as the other top-eight team in the area.

The Lady Pirates are No. 3.

The teams aren’t unfamiliar. Locust Grove downed KHS 52-39 in the Class 4A state quarterfinals a season ago.

The Lady Jackets are looking for their 29th trip to the state tournament overall and the fourth in the last five years under coach Taylor Young.

Other ranked teams in the area see Berryhill at No.

11 and North Rock Creek at No. 14.

The top-ranked boys teams in the area are No. 3 North Rock Creek and No. 8 Catoosa.

In addition to the Jackets, the only other ranked team in the area is No. 12 Perkins- Tryon, which downed KHS 59-57 last month.

The Jackets are looking to reach state for the first time under third-year head coach Colby Connel.

KHS has been to state 15 times, including seven straight years from 2017 to 2023.

One change to the playoff structure this year deals with the regionals. In years past, the regional was played the Thursday, Friday and Saturday after the district.

This year, the district champs will play their regional opener on the Tuesday following the district. The district runners-up will play the consolation games on the Thursday and the games will be played as they traditionally were on Friday and Saturday.

Class 3A

Hennessey will get a little bit more time at home than KHS.

The Eagle squads will host Casady in a 3A district and the Eagle Event Center will also serve as a regional sub-site.

Joining them for those regional first-round games will be Lincoln Christian boys, Holland Hall girls and Sperry.

The remainder of the regional will be played at Millwood, which hosts Pathways in a district. Other regional teams are Crossings Christian girls, Star Spencer boys and Little Axe.

The area tournament will be played at Prague.

Other area teams are Crooked Oak, Harding Fine Arts boys, Oklahoma Christian School girls, Bethel, Community Christian boys, Lexington, Holdenville, Jones, Alva and Perry.

No. 3 Alva and No. 7 Millwood are the topranked teams in the area.

Also ranked on the girls side are No. 11 Hennessey, No. 13 Bethel and No. 20 Jones.

Hennessey enters the playoffs with a 19-5 mark. Its only loss to a non-ranked team is Crescent.

All other losses are to teams ranked No. 7 or better in their respective classes.

The Lady Eagles haven’t been to state since 2014 and if they qualify this year, it will be the eighth time in program history.

The HHS boys have been 11 times, most recently in 2024, which was the second of back-to-back trips.

Millwood is the No. 1-ranked boys team in the class and Crooked Oak is No. 5.

Also ranked are No. 12 Community Christian and No. 20 Lincoln Christian.

Class 2A

Cashion makes it 6 for 6 in the county for schools being awarded a district.

The two ranked Wildcat teams will be joined by Three Rivers Conference foe Watonga in a 2A district.

After that, they go back to Watonga for a regional and the area site is Bridge Creek High School.

Other regional teams will be Mangum, Cordell, Hobart, Sayre, Merritt and Oklahoma Christian Academy.

The other regional features the likes of Christian Heritage, The Academy, Riverside, Hinton, Walters, Frederick, Stratford and Minco.

The Cashion girls are ranked No. 15 in the class.

The highest-ranked girls teams are No. 4 Merritt and No. 6 Riverside.

Also ranked are No. 9 Stratford and No. 19 Christian Heritage.

Cashion is the 17thranked boys team.

The two top teams are No. 2 OCA and No. 6 Riverside.

Also ranked are No. 11 Christian Heritage and No. 19 Mangum.

Cashion’s boys reached state last year and have been four times since 2020 under coach John Hardaway. He’s responsible for all but two of the program’s appearances at state.

The Lady Wildcats have qualified 11 times with the most recent being 2018.