Review of county tournament

The 2010 LeFlore County Tournament attracted record crowds for the finals Saturday night to watch Talihina’s boys and Heavener's girls capture the championships in the 78^th version.

Over 2,600 attended the girls’ finals at the Stubblefield Center while more than 2,800 saw the boys’ final.

This figure does not represent players, coaches and school administrators. The Stubblefield Center seats 3,100 and was close to full during the finals.

As coach Jody Fincher said, Heavener’s girls got a monkey off their back with the win over previously undefeated Howe in the finals. The victory gave Heavener its first county championship since 1993.

The Lady Wolves jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter only to see Howe come back and tie the game twice in the third quarter. Heavener gradually built its lead and went on to take a 49-35 win.

There was not much drama in the boys’ finals. After finishing second the last two years, Talihina finally climbed to the top with a 66-45 win over Spiro.

The win gave Talihina’s boys their first county championship since 1974. Spiro stayed close after the first quarter, trailing only 16-12 but Talihina got hot and the Bulldogs were left behind.

As always, there were some good games in the tournament, a milestone for a long time coach and one big injury.

The top games were Spiro’s win over Poteau in the semifinals, Howe’s girls edging Poteau in the semifinals and the Heavener boys’ overtime win over Howe in the quarterfinals.

Panama boys coach Greg Nichols won his 500^th game as a boys coach in Oklahoma in the opening-round victory over LeFlore. This total does not include wins at CASC, as a girls coach or while coaching in Texas.

The big injury was a serious blow to Heavener as Brandon Kirkland broke his collarbone in the second quarter of the Wolves’ loss to Talihina on Friday and will likely be lost for the rest of the season.

The Wolves had played almost a perfect game up to that point, leading 13-4. But after Kirkland went down, Talihina dominated the game to move into the finals.

Now, it is a year wait until the 79^th LCT next year. Spiro will be the host school and it will be interesting to see where the finals will be played.

Some of the top teams for next year will be Talihina’s boys again, with four starters back, along with Poteau and Spiro. For the girls, Heavener will be tough again, but Howe, Pocola and Poteau will have a bunch of starters back.