Buck Ringgold: Last season's 6A girls runner-up, Bixby, is hungry — not to mention thirsty — to attain championship gold

By Buck Ringgold | Photo by Karen Schwartz 

Tina Thomas was searching for a Diet Coke.

It is the customary postgame beverage of choice for the Bixby girls basketball coach.

After her Lady Spartans avenged a December loss to Tulsa Union with a 38-31 win Tuesday night on the Lady Redhawks' home court and Thomas offered rave reviews of her team to the assembled media, there was one other thing on her mind.

Finding a Diet Coke.

I know from previous experience about Thomas' love for the soft drink. After Bixby won at Broken Arrow in early January, Thomas was more than ready to consume a Diet Coke.

Once I had finished interviewing Thomas, I retreated to the hospitality room for a soft drink myself. There were only two sodas left in the cooler, both Diet Cokes.

I grabbed both of them, one for myself and the other ... well, luckily, Thomas wasn't too far away and I was able to give her the last Diet Coke. She couldn't thank me enough.

Before Thomas was ready to consume her latest postgame Diet Coke on Tuesday, she offered some substantial praise for her squad, which is another reason the Diet Cokes for Thomas have tasted great for her lately.

Tuesday's win was the seventh straight for the surging Lady Spartans. When Union won at Bixby in December, the Lady Spartans had dropped to 3-2.

Now? Bixby stands at a robust 15-3, having won 12 of its past 13 games, with the only blemish coming to Class 4A contender Classen SAS.

And in two weeks, the Lady Spartans begin their postseason run. Last season, they fell one game short of the ultimate goal, falling to a superior Norman squad in the 6A title game.

"I think that loss in the state championship game last year, it really showed us and motivated us and is getting us that drive like we belong there, like we can do this," Bixby junior guard Gracy Wernli said.

"I feel like if we can just play as a unit, then we can do what we need to do, and our games we have coming up are tough ones, but they'll be fun — fun to watch, fun to play."

Perhaps the turning point for Bixby's season came by winning the Tournament of Champions title in late December at the BOK Center. The Lady Spartans won all three games by an average margin of more than 20 points.

"I think winning the Tournament of Champions really gave our team a lot of confidence, like as a whole," junior point guard Gentry Baldwin said. "I kind of feel like we can hang in there and we can compete with the best in the state, and so I think it was kind of a turning point for our season that we can actually do it this year."

And, save for the loss to Classen SAS, the Lady Spartans have continued to win, using a mix of their guard play along with the ability to play in the paint and get baskets inside.

Their defense has held opponents to 35 points or fewer in nine of those wins during the 12-1 surge. Their offense has also been able to get points whenever necessary, especially since the December loss to Union.

"I think we shut them down on defense at our gym, but we've got to score," Wernli said. "So, I think we went out (with that mindset) that we have to be the same team on defense as we are on offense, the same type of competitiveness."

Bixby also has only one senior on the roster, frontcourt player Haley Prince, so the Lady Spartans should be very formidable again next season.

They've also gotten some inspiration from the school's record-setting football team, which is coming off its 49th straight win and fourth consecutive 6AII title. 

"It's just nice to see," Baldwin said. "Bixby's like a really good community, and to see the support from everyone all around for football and then get it transferred over for basketball, it's really like a lot of motivation for us to bring it home this year."

To do so, however, the Lady Spartans will have to navigate a field of prime challengers.

"There's so many good teams across the state that if you don't take care of business and you don't focus on getting better every time you step on the court, then anything can happen," Thomas said. "But we're trying to poise ourselves to make a good little run here at the end."

That list of 6A contenders obviously starts with undefeated Edmond North.

There's Choctaw, which has lost just once. There's Sand Springs, which was undefeated for most of the season. Tahlequah, up from a trip to last season's 5A title game and currently riding a long winning streak.

And you certainly can't count out the defending champs over in Norman.

"Tahlequah, we've scrimmaged them and (coach David Qualls) always puts together a quality club — 5A, 6A, I don't care, those kids can play there," Thomas said. "Then we've got (Putnam City) West that has come over to this side of the state (on the East side).

"I have nothing but respect for all of those programs. Edmond North, they're very talented this year and very well-coached and very hungry, so we just have to be hungrier."

Not to mention attaining even more of a thirst for winning.

And should the Lady Spartans win it all and join their football counterparts in hoisting a gold ball, there's no doubt Thomas' postgame Diet Coke will definitely taste mighty good.