The Roland Runnin’ Rangers basketball team opened the season with two wins last week, winning the season opener 63-57 over the Sequoyah-Tahlequah Indians on Dec. 2 at the Ranger Dome, then winning the NOAA Conference opener 7551 over the host Checotah Wildcats on Friday night.
The Lady Rangers split their opening-week games, beating NOAA Conference rival Checotah 45-34 on Friday night after losing their season opener 60-52 to Sequoyah-Tahlequah on Dec. 2 at the Ranger Dome.
In the boys’ seasonopening win over Sequoyah- Tahlequah, the Runnin’ Rangers (2-0), who trailed 21-14 after a quarter, outscored the Indians 19-13 in the second quarter to cut their deficit to 34-33 at halftime. In the second half, Roland outscored Sequoyah-Tahlequah 30-23 to complete the come-from-behind victory.
For the game, Damonte “Bubba” Owens led all scorers with a game-high 25 points, followed by Kade Shook with 11 points, Landon Fowler with 10 points, Raidyn Knight with seven points, Tae Smith with five points, Cason Perryman with four points and Mason Kemp with a free throw.
In the boys’ NOAA Conference victory over Checotah, the Runnin’ Rangers (1-0 in NOAA Conference play) outscored the ’Cats 26-14 in the first quarter, then stretched their advantage to 47-23 at halftime en route to a 64-36 lead after three periods.
For the game, Knight scored a game-high 21 points and Damonte “Bubba” Owens added 20 points to lead Roland, followed by Fowler with nine points, Shook with eight points, Kemp with six points, Bryson Myers with five points and Daxton Owens and Josh Bower with three points apiece.
In the girls’ NOAA Conference win over Checotah, the Lady Rangers (1-1 overall, 1-0 in conference play) jumped out to a 9-4 lead after a period, which became a 24-7 halftime advantage and a 3916 lead going into the fourth quarter.
For the game, Ryanne Nelke scored a gamehigh 17 points and Halle Freeman added 15 points to lead Roland, followed by Molly Carver with nine points and Adriana Moya with four points.
In the girls’ loss to Sequoyah-Tahlequah, the Lady Indians, who trailed 13-5 after a quarter, outscored the Lady Rangers 18-7 in the second quarter to take a 2320 lead at halftime.
A 21-16 third quarter for the visitors upped the Sequoyah-Tahlequah advantage to 44-36 going into the final period.
In defeat, Nelke scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Lady Rangers, followed by Freeman with 14 points, Carver with 10 points and Lillian Cole with three points.
