Norman girls determined to have a say in Class 6A championship chase
By Michael Kinney
NORMAN - Despite a strong record, the Norman High girls have flown under the radar this season.
Even with wins against No. 8 Midwest City (6A), No. 1 Pocola (2A) and No. 12 Classen SAS (4A), they do not get mentioned with the likes of Edmond North, Edmond Memorial, Putnam City West or Tulsa Booker T. Washington as being contenders for the 6A girls state championship.
Some of that may be due to the Lady Tigers' health. Besides playing the entire season without guard Aaliyah Henderson (an SMU signee), the team has been plagued with the injury bug.
However, that may be changing for No. 3 Norman at the right time. When they hosted No. 5 Yukon Friday, it was the third time since Dec. 4 that NHS has had its original starting five on the court.
And it showed as the Tigers rolled to a 65-40 victory against the Millers (12-5) at Norman's home court.
“Basketball is just one of those things that being healthy is a major aspect when it comes to a team’s season,” Norman coach Frankie Parks said. “So at this point, we've got some kids that have returned and once again, they're finding that stride.
"They're starting to play together and it's going to be pretty interesting if we continue to play the way we've been playing the last few games.”
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The first quarter belonged solely to Nessa Begay. She owned the paint and the Millers were unable to keep the senior off the offensive boards.
Begay scored 10 of the Lady Tigers’ 15 first-quarter points as Norman (13-4) grabbed a 10-point advantage.
“It was senior night and we got to get this win so we can get a good seeding for regionals and all that,” Begay said. “I just knew I was bigger; I knew my role and what I needed to do and I tried to play it to the best of my ability.”
Yukon’s offense went through junior guard Caid Jefferson. She knocked in a couple of perimeter shots in the first half.
However, that was the only bright spot for the Millers as they trailed, 36-14, at halftime.
Norman continued to dominate in the paint in the second half with Begay, Keeley Parks and Kayla Jones each taking turns scoring near the basket. But when Parks and Jordyn Rollins started to knock down 3-pointers as well, it was too many fires for Yukon to put out.
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“Honestly, I think that Norman looked like the more physically dominant team,” Yukon coach Roy Wyckoff said. “They kind of bullied us, pushed us around. We didn't have very many answers for them.
"We switched up and played a lot of zone, which we don't typically do because we were having a hard time guarding them in the post. And so we switched up and then we had a hard time rebounding out of our zone; then, we just turned it over a lot.”
Just as impressive was Norman’s defense as they took Yukon out of anything they wanted to do. The Millers didn’t score in double figures until the fourth quarter.
But by then, the benches had cleared and the game was over.
“I thought we played really well. I thought for three and a half quarters, we played our game,” Parks said. “We defended really well, full court, half court, we did all the little things correctly as far as switching in the half court defensively.
"From the defensive side of things, we did really well.”
Jefferson had a team-high 10 points for the Millers. Kenlea Jefferson added 9 points in the loss.
Parks led all scorers with 19 points. Begay scored 15 of her 17 points in the first half.
Rollins also scored 15 points. That included hitting a trio of 3-pointers.
"We're pretty hard to beat,” Begay said. “I think we have a good chance of beating anyone in the state when we're all healthy.”
