Durant’s girls basketball team bounced back from a loss to defending state champ Sapulpa to topple Tulsa Edison for their first district win of the season last week. The Lions weren’t quite as fortunate in dropping their fourth straight league decision despite taking Sapulpa to the brink early in the week.

Pressure defense and size were major factors as Kingston swept a pair of games from visiting Silo last Friday night. The Lady Redskins cashed in most of 13 first half Silo turnovers into points on the way to a 43-18 victory.

In his second season with the Southeastern men’s basketball program, Chandler Dickinson had been a relative afterthought averaging roughly nine minutes per game off the bench. Looking for a spark, Savage Storm head coach Kelly Green inserted Dickinson into the starting lineup in a win over Oklahoma Baptist and saw enough to start him again for what proved to be a breakout performance on Saturday at Northwestern.

While Madill controlled the lower weight classes in last week’s wrestling dual action at Durant, it was the host Lions’ dominance through the higher weights that proved decisive in a 54-27 victory.

Coming off a pair of district losses early in the week, Durant’s high school basketball teams followed up in the Madill Winter Classic as the Lady Lions won a pair of games to claim third with the Lions falling in the consolation finals.

Rock Creek 52, Wilburton 41 (girls) Laynie Knight scored seven of her game-high 17 points in a decisive first quarter explosion that put the Lady Mustangs on top for good in the Hartshorne Tournament consolation finals. Rock Creek also got six points from Maddie Williams as they romped to a 19-5 cushion at the end of the opening period.

With a full week of rest and return home, the Southeastern Savage Storm shooting touch returned to normal form on Saturday as Coach Kelly Green’s men outgunned perennial power Oklahoma Baptist, 92-87, at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

Durant and Caddo split basketball contests in the Madill Winter Classic last week with the Lady Lion victory propelling them to the tournament third place trophy. In girls action, Durant used a big second stanza to take the lead and then held off the Lady Bruins by a 37-33 count.

Going into the season, Durant wrestling coach Jim Taylor stressed the importance of filling all the weight classifications when it came to dual success. The long-time Lion skipper proved prophetic in the first home dual of the 2023-24 campaign as the Lions rode the strength of 24 forfeit points to a 47-33 triumph over visiting Plainview last week.