The Norman Transcript

Sports

January 27, 2012

Prince expected back in lineup

NORMAN — Norman North’s Payton Prince is expected to play in tonight’s Clash after missing the Timberwolves’ last game with bronchitis.

Though he’s still feeling ill, Prince practiced Wednesday and Thursday, coach Butch Roberts said.

“I don’t know how close he’ll be to full strength, but he should be able to play,” Roberts said. “He’s probably been close to about 70 percent in practice.”

Streak not a factor: While her team is aware of its decade-long winning streak in the Crosstown Clash, it’s a subject Norman High girls’ coach Nichole Copeland hasn’t addressed with her squad.

“We haven’t even talked about it, to be honest,” she said. “This game’s not about North, it’s about us getting better. We know what’s coming Friday night.”

While the winning streak is nice, it means more to the school community and the other students than it does to the her team, Copeland said.

“It means a lot to the kids in the school, but what’s more important to us is that we need a win, and every time we step on the floor we’re jockeying for playoff position.”

Looking for help: NHS sophomore Taylor Ely’s contributions have a big part of the Tigers’ season, but Copeland is looking for the rest of her lineup to step up over the last few weeks of the season, starting with the Clash tonight.

“We feel like we’ve been getting everything we can get out of Taylor,” Copeland said. “People will key on Taylor and Bethany Cox, and we need the other girls to give us more offensively.”

That group includes Toni Greene, Albany Anderson and Mackenna Perkins, players who have shown flashes of their offensive skills this season but haven’t been as aggressive on the offensive end of the floor.

“It’s not that they aren’t capable, it’s that they aren’t looking for it,” Copeland said. “Hopefully, in the next few weeks we’ll see those guys step up and be more aggressive.”

Washington rolling: Class 3A’s top-ranked Washington squad is in the midst of a six-game winning streak after taking their last loss to Vinita in the Tournament of Champions last month.

The streak includes winning the title at the Newcastle Tournament after defeating 6A school Westmoore 41-38 in the finals.

The Warriors will try to extend that streak to seven when they host Lindsay at 7:45 p.m. today.

Corbin Hosler 366-3528 chosler@normantranscript.com

Text Only
Sports
  • Texas AM Oklahoma Basketball Win gives Sooners leg up in conference standings

    The Oklahoma women have struggled to be what they’ve been this season. Out of the polls for the first time in several years, they have fought the good fight, but only occasionally received the desired results....

    February 22, 2012 1 Photo

  • Where do Sooners’ motivations lie?

    It would be easy to envision the walls of Oklahoma’s locker room dripping with apathy. The Sooners haven’t won a game in nearly four weeks. What appeared in December to be a promising season has taken a nose dive in February. The reality ...

    February 22, 2012

  • Lynn has title plans

    LITTLE AXE — For Little Axe senior heavyweight Walter Lynn, the one thing he tried hardest to avoid could turn out to be the one thing he needed most. That something was Lynn’s semifinal defeat at the Class 3A wrestling meet to Geary’s ...

    February 22, 2012

  • NFL concussion fallout raises red flags in NASCAR

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — If Michael Waltrip were to count up all the concussions he has sustained over a NASCAR career that stretches back nearly 30 years, he’d certainly hit 10 — and probably keep going....

    February 22, 2012

  • Moving forward

    VIERA, Fla. — Three months have passed since Wilson Ramos’ budding baseball career was interrupted by a gunpoint kidnapping in his native Venezuela. Yet there the 24-year-old catcher was Tuesday, smiling and laughing alongside his ...

    February 22, 2012

  • Michigan wins in OT Burke spearheads 67-55 win over Northwestern

    EVANSTON, Ill. — Michigan kept shooting from the 3-point line Tuesday night and coach John Beilein had no problem with the 38 attempts his No. 11 Wolverines hoisted toward the basket from long range....

    February 22, 2012

  • New coach setting tone

    STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Heavy metal music blared from speakers across the Penn State practice field before a pre-dawn workout, the throbbing bass beats echoing off nearby campus buildings. Indeed, it is a new world in Happy Valley....

    February 22, 2012

  • Darvish arrives at training camp

    SURPRISE, Ariz. — The moment had finally arrived for a media horde gathered for days at the Surprise Recreation Campus, and it was over in less than a minute Tuesday morning....

    February 22, 2012

  • Reggie Miller still a straight shooter

    Reggie Miller will be a TNT analyst alongside Marv Albert and Steve Kerr for the NBA All-Star game Sunday in Orlando, Fla., with the network airing exclusive coverage of All-Star weekend starting Thursday....

    February 22, 2012

  • Ex-Fiesta Bowl executive pleads guilty

    PHOENIX — The Fiesta Bowl’s former top executive pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge stemming from a political donations scandal that nearly jeopardized the bowl’s role as a regular host of college football’s national championship ...

    February 22, 2012

The Business Marquee
Facebook