Looking Back, Looking Ahead: 2021 Class 3A State Championship

<strong>2021 Class 3A Championship Game – Jones 63, Roland 28 </strong> An outsider looking in at the championship game scoreline would not have believed that Roland was the team that came into the Big House undefeated back in March. The Roland Rangers rolled opponents all season long en route to the championship game and a win against the Jones Longhorns seemed a forgone conclusion, to be honest. Instead, Jones’ defense held the Rangers to 10 points in the first half and Roland never recovered. Both teams were making their first appearance in a state championship game and unfortunately one of them had to lose. Out of the Longhorns’ 63 points, three scorers contributed double-digits to the cause in Zoe Tucker, [player_tooltip player_id="151343" first="Tirzah" last="Moore"] and [player_tooltip player_id="197944" first="Boston" last="Berry"]. <strong>2021 Runner-Up Outlook: Roland Rangers (2020-21 Record: 21-1)</strong> Perhaps the saddest part about the undefeated run of the Rangers coming to an end is the fact that the team was absolutely loaded with seniors. Makya Perryman (10.2 ppg), Kyla Abdullah (9.4 ppg), [player_tooltip player_id="151337" first="Kaitlyn" last="Martinez"] (9.2 ppg) and Jaiden Conaway (7.3 ppg) have all graduated. Conaway and Perryman are playing at Connors State College. Our No. 71-ranked player in the class of 2021, Martinez, is about to begin her first season at Southern Nazarene. Unfortunately for Roland, as of yet there are no ranked prospects waiting in the wings to take over for the four outstanding seniors they have lost. This year’s senior leadership will be provided by Racheal Watie, a 5’6" guard who is as of yet unranked. She averaged 10.9 points to lead the team last season and is a tremendous outside shooter. Watie shows good handles and a high basketball IQ - as you would assume the points leader on an undefeated team would. I look forward to seeing Roland in person this season and getting Racheal on the 2022 rankings where she belongs. <strong>2021 Champion Outlook: Jones Longhorns (2020-21 Record: 18-1)</strong> The Longhorns’ only loss of the season was in the Bethany Tournament to 4A Holland Hall and after that they rattled off 17 straight wins on their way to a rousing victory against a team that many gave them no shot against. Unlike Roland, Jones only started two seniors in the championship game, though those two seniors were Division-I athletes. [player_tooltip player_id="151343" first="Tirzah" last="Moore"] and [player_tooltip player_id="201709" first="Trinity" last="Moore"] averaged 14.5 and 12.3, respectively, and have moved on to play their college ball at Oral Roberts University. The two were woefully underrated in our 2021 rankings and I take full blame for that. I am glad that they found a great basketball home and look forward to seeing them on the floor with the Golden Eagles. The drop-off for the Longhorns should be little to non-existent and is an absolutely scary proposition for the rest of Oklahoma 3A basketball I would assume. Junior [player_tooltip player_id="197944" first="Boston" last="Berry"] will be called upon to lead the team this season. Yet another Division-I prospect for the Longhorns, our No. 5-ranked prospect in the 2023 class already holds offers from Tulsa, Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech and others. She is a tremendous scorer who is going to be an absolute stud in the very near future... and still has two more years left in high school! Fellow junior Zoe Tucker is currently unranked but jumped onto the scouting radar with her 25 point performance in the championship game. She also added six rebounds and three steals to ensure that she will not be overlooked in the next iteration of the rankings. Helping to fill the hole left by the Moore twins will be sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="331849" first="Sofi" last="Woodson"]. We saw her for the first time recently and were thoroughly impressed - not just with her 6’2" size - but, her ability to move her feet very well in the paint and anticipate the play on the defensive end. With continued development, Sofi is yet another Division-I big for the Jones Longhorns and she (and the other Jones Longhorns youngsters) have a very good chance of lifting one or more Gold Balls before all is said and done.