The Skiatook Bulldogs had a great year—lots of big wins, exciting moments, and hard work—but the season finally came to an end against Bishop Kelley in at 61-42 loss in Claremore at the regional tournament.

Bishop Kelley entered the matchup ranked #10 in Class 5A. Because of conference classifications, the Comets have played mainly 6A schools this year and don’t have too impressive of a record to show for it for a 5A Top 10 team—they’re only 11-12—but playing with the “big dogs” has to make coming back to the 5A tournament seem like a slower game.

The biggest problem for Skiatook in the Bishop Kelley matchup was a very poor offensive start. Whether it was nerves, stellar defense from Kelly, a poor shooting night for Skiatook, or another outside factor is unknown, but one thing for certain is the Bulldogs couldn’t buy a basket in the first half.

They scored 6 in the first quarter, one of the worst scoring quarters of the year, only to follow it up with a 5 point quarter.

Meanwhile, the Comets weren’t scoring at an earth-shattering rate, but they did manage to put up 27 points in the first half, so the 27-11 halftime lead for the Comets meant trouble for Skiatook.

In the second half, Skiatook began to come alive, but it’s hard for a team to win if they trail by more points than they’ve scored at half, and although the Bulldogs made a run, it wasn’t quite enough.

Skiatook put up 20 points in the fourth quarter, looking like it’s old self, but the Comets scored 19 as they went on to win 61-42.

Skiatook’s leading scorers were Gavin Jackson with 11, Casen Lester had 10, Jayden Garner put up 7, and Reese Neil added 5.

After the game, the seniors were sad to see their high school careers end, but also thankful for the experience and fun over the years.

Gavin Jackson, a Vype-100 player this year, said, “I loved playing for this team this season. We always went hard, and I’m sad to see it finally come to a close.”

The Journal would like to say a very special thank you to Skiatook’s players and coaching staff, putting in lots of time and hours to help make the program what it is today.
