Small-school South Coffeyville girls basketball team thinking big as playoffs get under way

By Ty Loftis 

Photo courtesy of South Coffeyville Public Schools

One of the best stories in Oklahoma high school sports is taking place in one of the smallest cities in the state.

As the Class B district playoffs started on Thursday night, the South Coffeyville Lady Lions were one of three undefeated teams still standing in high school girls basketball, the others being Edmond North and Washington.

Yet with that distinguished honor, South Coffeyville was ranked 15th in the final www.OssaaRankings.com poll and only received one first-place vote.

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Head coach Jeremy Rogers doesn’t mind the lack of respect heading into the playoffs, though.

“If nobody wants to believe in what we can do, that’s fine,” Rogers said. “The fact of the matter is we played the schedule that was in front of us, and so far, we have passed each test that was presented to us with flying colors.”

To Rogers’ point, they have gotten to 22-0. The Lady Lions' latest win was 64-22 against Bluejacket in the opening round of the Class B Area IV District 2 playoffs in Welch.

During South Coffeyville's undefeated run, the Lady Lions only had one game decided by single digits, that a 54-49 win at Class 2A Commerce in early December. Some highlight wins for the Lady Lions include a 52-5 victory against Barnsdall and a 71-16 victory against Bluejacket.

They also won the Copan Tournament in December and their bracket at last month's Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Tournament at Miami.

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Even with the impressive mark, South Coffeyville has yet to play a ranked opponent, regardless of classification.

“There is no doubt we are about to see a step-up in competition,” Rogers said. “The girls know that. We have been preparing for that and I think we are ready for that.”

Senior Eryn Dolan is one of several who have led this South Coffeyville team this year.

The 5-foot-9 guard will be playing basketball at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant next year, and she has no intentions of ending her high school career early.

“I know we have what it takes to make a run,” Dolan said. “We have been working at this all year and we have no intention of bowing out, no matter what kind of respect we are getting.”

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South Coffeyville opened the postseason Thursday evening by taking on Bluejacket in the first round of the Class B Area IV District 2 playoffs in Welch.

When looking at what it will take for South Coffeyville to make it out of its area and into the state tournament, the Lady Lions will now face Copan, a team they have beaten handily earlier this year, in Saturday's district title game.

A win on Saturday, and the Lady Lions would be potentially three wins away from making it to the state tournament. South Coffeyville is the fourth highest-ranked team in Class B Area IV, with Varnum the highest ranked at No. 4, followed by No. 6 Whitesboro and No. 9 Calvin.

But Rogers isn't totally worried about which team is ranked higher or which team isn't even ranked when navigating through the playoff field.

“That’s not something I’m concerned about; I mean we weren’t even a part of the rankings until a little bit ago, so you can’t put a ton of stock into that,” Rogers said.

The 2022-2023 season marks a great turnaround for the Lady Lions, as they made a first-round exit in regionals and barely managed to get double-digit wins the season before. Rogers credits the hard work the girls put in over the summer as being a reason for the improvement.

“We didn’t like how last year went,” Rogers said. “It was something that, in the end, we learned from though, and have become a better basketball team because of it.”

Dolan, who recently scored her 1,000th career point as a Lady Lion and leads her team in scoring, echoed her coach’s sentiments.

“Last year brought us together as a group,” Dolan said. “We realized that we are going to have to work for it if we want it, so we've got to work.”

Heading into the Class B playoffs, that hard work has paid off, as the Lady Lions are in position to make a run at the state tournament and Rogers remarked his team is capable of doing just that if they so choose.

“This is one of the hardest working teams I have been around,” Rogers said. “If they want to accomplish something, they will do it, so I expect us to be hanging around and contending for the title.”