The Muldrow High School basketball teams came in runners-up in the 2024 Sequoyah County Tournament after each lost Saturday night’s title games to archrival Roland at Sallisaw High School’s Paul Post Field House.

The two-time defending champion Lady Bulldogs were denied a threepeat as they lost 39-25 to the Lady Rangers, but the Running Rangers defended their championship by repeating the feat Saturday night with a 54-40 victory over the ’Dogs.

The Lady Bulldogs reached the championship game with a 58-27 win over Gore on Jan. 2 at Gans High School’s Bryant “Big Country” Reeves Fieldhouse, then won their championship semifinal 40-13 over Sallisaw on Thursday night at Paul Post Field House.

The ’Dogs made it to the finals with a 47-32 victory over Gore on Jan. 2 at Gans High School’s Bryant “Big Country” Reeves Fieldhouse and a 56-48 win over Central in Thursday night’s championship semifinals at Paul Post Field House.

In the girls’ championship, the only lead enjoyed by the Lady Bulldogs (8-3) came at 3-0 on a conventional threepoint play by Kennedi “Kiki” Wight with 7:28 left in the first quarter.

Roland’s Haven Freeman converted an oldfashioned three-point play with 6:07 left in the opening period for a 6-3 lead, which Roland never relinquished from thereon.

Roland’s Ryanne Nelke hit a basket with 7:14 left to play for her team’s largest lead at 26-10 with 7:54 left in the third quarter.

Muldrow got its deficit trimmed to five points at 26-21 on Cailey Grinstead’s 3-point basket with 45 seconds left in the period, but the Lady Bulldogs got no closer.

In defeat, Grinstead led Muldrow with nine points, followed by Maysi Fields with six points, Wight with five points, Claire Tabor with three points and London Hardin and Kennady Moore with a free throw apiece.

In the girls’ semifinals, the Lady Bulldogs scored the game’s first eight points of the game before the first basket for the Lady Diamonds (4-6) could be made by Kayli Macon to cut Sallisaw’s deficit to 8-2 with 5:18 left in the first quarter. Muldrow led 14-2 after the first eight minutes.

The Lady Bulldogs ended up enjoying a 21-5 halftime advantage and a 32-6 lead heading into the final period after outscoring the Lady Diamonds 11-1 in the third quarter.

For the game, Wight scored a game-high 11 points and Grinstead added 10 points to lead Muldrow, followed by Makynlee Morton with six points, Tabor, Hardin and Katelynn Moore with three points each and Kayla Ellingberg and Aubrey Luttrell with two points apiece.

In the girls openinground victory, the Lady Bulldogs had to rally from a 14-10 first-quarter deficit as they ended the first half with a 21-4 run to take a 31-18 halftime lead.

The Lady Bulldogs amassed as large as a 34-point lead at 54-20 with 6:35 left in the game on a basket by Morton with 6:35 left in the game.

For the game, For the game, Wight led all scorers with a game-high 16 points in her first game back for Muldrow after suffering a knee injury in the Dec. 15 homecoming game against Sallisaw, followed by Tabor with nine points, Ellingberg with eight points, Grinstead with six points, Hardin, Fields, Luttrell and Gracie Atkerson with three points each, Morton, Katelynn Moore and Kennady Moore each with two points and Gracie Prewett with a free throw.

In the boys’ finals, a 3-pointer by Muldrow’s Kasha Bukhari put the Bulldogs (5-6) ahead 1816 with 4:30 left before halftime, but that ended up being Muldrow’s last lead.

The Running Rangers scored the first half’s final seven points to take a 23-18 halftime lead, but the ’Dogs rallied in the third quarter to get the game tied at 29 on Parker Sevenstar’s conventional three-point play with 4:17 left in the period.

However, from there, Roland outscored Muldrow 25-11 to seal the deal and secure the Running Rangers repeating as county champions.

In defeat, Bukhari scored 15 points and Sevenstar 12 points to lead Muldrow, followed by Teaguen Collins with eight points, Hayden Bullock with three points and Trenton Irvan with two points.

In the boys’ semifinals, the Bulldogs (5-5) never trailed, but the Tigers kept hanging around.

After the ’Dogs scored the first six points of the game, the Tigers fought back to make it a 13-12 game at the end of the first quarter thanks to a basket by Connor Walters with three seconds left in the period.

Thanks to Drew Prewett’s basket with three seconds left before halftime, the Bulldogs grabbed their largest lead of the first half at 26-18 at the break, but a 20-10 third quarter for Muldrow increased its lead to the biggest of the game at 46-28 going into the final period.

However, the Tigers still were not ready to be tamed just yet by the ’Dogs as Central returned the favor by doubling Muldrow 20-10 in the fourth quarter.

The telltale factor was Central’s inability to hit its free throws as the Tigers were only 5-of-18 from the charity stripe.

For the game, Collins scored a game-high 16 points and Prewett added 10 points to lead Muldrow, followed by Sevenstar with nine points, Bukhari with seven points, Jesse Kilinc with five points, Deshawn Wilson with three points and Irvan, Jaxson Anstine and Kenoy Releford with two points apiece.

In the boys’ openinground win, The Bulldogs looked as if they were going to make the Pirates walk the plank as Muldrow raced out to a 13-1 lead with 1:35 left in the first period on a 3-point basket by Prewett. A trey by Gore’s Burr Jaymes with 62 seconds remaining in the period cut Gore’s deficit to 13-4 entering the second quarter.

After another 3-pointer by Jaymes cut Gore’s deficit to 13-6 with 7:30 left before halftime, the ’Dogs ended the first half on an 11-1 run, capped by Prewett’s basket with four seconds remaining in the first half, to give Muldrow a 24-7 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs saw their lead get as large as 20 points in the third quarter as a basket by Sevenstar with 3:56 left in the period gave Muldrow a 30-10 lead. Muldrow took a 32-19 lead into the final period.

However, the Pirates would not go away as they answered Sevenstar’s basket with an 11-2 run that ended in the early stages of the fourth quarter as a basket by Gore’s Tate Brooksher cut the Muldrow lead to 32-21 with 7:45 left in the game. However, that was as close as Gore got.

For the game, Sevenstar scored a game-high 14 points to lead Muldrow, followed by Collins with nine points, Bukhari with seven points, Anstine with six points, Prewett with five points, Wilson with four points and Irvan with two points.