Buck Ringgold: Edmond North basketball teams still basking in the glory of claiming state titles

By Buck Ringgold

On March 12, Edmond North did what no other large-classification school in the state was able to achieve. 

That was when both the Huskies and Lady Huskies basketball teams claimed 6A championships. It was the ninth time an Oklahoma school won both boys and girls basketball team titles in the same season, but it was the first time a 5A or 6A school turned the trick.

Since that memorable day inside the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, both teams are still trying to process the reality that indeed they were actually able to hoist respective gold balls. But they also realize the magnitude of what they were able to accomplish.

"It's an honor, and I think that just shows how difficult it is," North boys coach Scott Norris said. "I think in all classes, it's only happened nine times, so it's just a great feat for a school and two programs to be able to do that in the same year.

"Our girls are a tremendous team and a very dominant team, so I wasn't surprised that they won it; ours was probably a little bit more of a surprise, but it's just a great honor for the kids and it shows the effort they put in to the season and the commitment they had to being a team and being the best they can be." 

And both the Huskies and Lady Huskies are still basking in the glory of being able to call themselves state champions. They had to wait a while to be congratulated in the hallways of their school building, since spring break had just started during the latter portion of the state tournament.

But since returning to school, they have received congratulatory messages from teachers, administrators and fellow students. Plus, there have been some other bonus celebrations.

Such as Monday, when the two squads were invited to the state capitol building in Oklahoma City to be honored by the state legislature. Then that night, both were honored by the Edmond school board during its meeting.

"I tell you what, it hasn't slowed down much," Lady Huskies coach Pete Papahronis said. "We had our basketball banquet last Wednesday, and then Monday, we were invited to the state capitol and we were brought on to the Senate floor, and they recognized us there for our state championship, which I think that was a lot of the girls' first time ever being at the state capitol or even being in the Senate chambers or the House, just to see how things work, so that was very nice and it was an honor to go in there.

"I think the girls were excited; I think they enjoyed themselves, I think it was a good experience for them to visit the capitol and we met our state senator from our district. ... The girls enjoyed it and they had a good time at the banquet last week."

While the Lady Huskies were recognized on the Senate floor, the Huskies had the same honor bestowed upon them by the House. 

"I think they enjoyed it," Norris said. "They enjoyed especially the architecture of the building and just being in there, it's something new and something that probably most of them will never experience again, and just to see that side and the politics and what's going on, so it was interesting for them and we had a good time.

"It's always fun to get recognized for your hard work and be honored that way, so it was something special for our teams."

The basketball teams weren't the only ones from North being honored at the state capitol on Monday. Also being recognized were the girls swimming and cheer squads, both of which also won state titles this academic year.

With those championships, Edmond North has now claimed a total of 78 state titles.

The Lady Huskies (28-1), whose only loss was to eventual 4A champion Classen SAS, rallied from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime in their 6A title game against Bixby. North eventually won it, 59-57, on a layup from senior Toni Papahronis with time running out for the Lady Huskies' first gold ball. 

As for the Huskies, they had to wait until several hours later to play their 6A title game, as they took on Moore. The Huskies (24-5) held up their end of the bargain with a 56-50 win, their second state championship, having won their other gold ball in 2017.

"I think our guys were more happy for (the Lady Huskies), and just seeing them reach their goal and knowing the hard work that they put in, our guys were excited for them," Norris said. "I don't know if it gave us any extra incentive; that might have lasted a couple of minutes or whatever (at the start of the game), but it's fun for us to share in their joy and their excitement just because our teams are so close.

"They have a great group of girls and our teams communicate a lot throughout the year and are really close, so just the joy for them and then our guys knew they had to get focused and be committed on what we needed to do to win our game."

There is still a sense of camaraderie among both teams, even as they have gradually began to resume offseason workouts.

"Even the other day, they were in the gym playing pickup together and just kind of playing ball together, just having fun and kind of celebrating each other's success," Pete Papahronis said. "It's pretty exciting having both teams win it, but we're still getting to the gym, we're still getting some work done.

"We've got girls getting ready for summer ball and we've got summer league coming up in June, so we can't forget to go back into the gym and go to work. But it's been enjoyable, and we've had a lot of praise come our way from the school and surrounding areas."

Norris is trying to do the same, not get too caught up in what just happened and get ready for a title defense.

"I think for me, I want to enjoy it but I'm also like, 'Man, we need to get back to work because now we've got a big target on our backs, we've got to get better,'" he said. "Definitely with us winning, then all of a sudden it was spring break and then coming back to school, everybody was congratulating us and still talking about it — it's been fun.

"Then going to the capitol, but now it's to the point where we need to get back in the gym, we need to get back in the weight room, but it's definitely been a different feeling going into the offseason on a winning note of your last game, so that's really been interesting on how to handle that as a coach."

The thing is, chances are good both the Huskies and Lady Huskies could be experiencing more postseason festivities next year.

Edmond North's boys return plenty of starters, including incoming juniors Dylan Warlick and T.O. Barrett, both of whom averaged double figures in scoring this past season.

"There were so many question marks for us going into this season because we only had one player that had a lot of varsity experience, so it will be different for us going into this next season having everybody but one player back and having experience and having experience at the highest level," Norris said.

"But I think for us, we still know we have to get better on a daily basis and we have daily standards of our program that we'll still try to reach every day, and I don't think that will change for our guys regardless of wins or losses."

The Lady Huskies also bring back a talented nucleus, headed up by incoming seniors Laci Steele and Elle Papahronis, both potential Division I signees who were the team's top two scorers during their run to the title.

"I think we're going to be competitive," Pete Papahronis said. "We're going to lose some good pieces, there's no question about it, and whenever you lose good pieces, you're sorry to see them go.

"But usually some of the younger players or the other players will step up and everyone that's coming back, we're going to expect to be that much better and that much more experienced and be able to produce a little bit more, so we're hoping to be very competitive next year also."

While the two basketball teams are gradually turning the page and concentrating on a new season, there's one more order of business in regards to what they did several weeks ago that they will definitely get excited about.

Yep, the rings have been ordered and are on their way.