January 22, 2022 Issue, Page 4 of 16

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4 January 22, 2022 Sports Wrestlers Hit the Mats at Western Conference Tournament Pictured are the wrestlers who participated in the Western Conference Tournament. Courtesy photo. High School and junior high high school were Lake Har- - first, Francisco Portillo - Cache/Clinton Dual that will wrestling teams traveled to grove - fourth, Andrew Val- fourth, Hey Hull - second, Ed- take place on the 20th, fol- Hinton for the Western Con- dez - third, Aaron Frye - sixth, gar Armendariz - fourth, Will lowed by Crossings Christian ference Tournament Friday Dawson McClinton - fourth, McGee - third, Alonzo Geno Dual on the 25th and Weath- and Saturday. The high school Braxton Robertson - fourth, - first and named Outstand- erford Dual on the 27th. In the finished in fifth place and the and Madison Holladay - first. ing Wrestler, Kenzie Manning current climate, check with junior high team came in third Individual placings for the - fifth, and Haygen Bayden - the coaches or the school for overall. junior high were Michael For- second. updates. Individual placings for the rester - third, Sonny Holladay Next on the schedule is the freshman season. OU women’s gymnastics “She’s exactly what I expect- ed her to be,” Kindler said. “I don’t know if we’ve had a fresh- Jesse Crittenden, The Nor- usual. The Sooners have also had man, with the exception of man Transcript “Two-thirds of our routines two underclassmen compete in Maggie Nichols, who came out are freshman and sopho- the all-around in their meets and scored so high right out of Oklahoma womens’ gym- mores,” Kindler said during against Alabama and Utah — the gate. Definitely we’ve had nastics coach K.J. Kindler media availability Wednesday. Davis and Jordan Bowers. amazing all-arounders over the knew this year’s team would “So that’s a huge, very young Bowers has burst onto the course and history of this pro- need to rely heavily on under- group. But very expected, hav- season for the Sooners, scor- gram, but she’s showing how ing lost Anastasia [Webb] and ing a 39.050 in the all-around special she is right away. classmen. It hasn’t just been Bow- Of the 21 women on the Maggie [Nichols] in the last against Alabama before im- ers that has impressed. Her Sooners’ roster this season, two years, two really strong proving to a 39.550 score teammate, Danielle Sievers, 12 of them are freshmen or athletes for us. against the Utes. She also was also named as Newcomer sophomores. It’s not an un- So far, the freshmen and notched a 9.95 in her vault of the Week on Tuesday after usually large number of under- sophomores have shown their routine, which tied with La- scoring a 9.875 in the bars classmen for Kindler — last potential. Vasseur and Utah’s Lucy Stan- against Utah. season’s team, which finished Sophomore Katherine La- hope for the highest score. For Kindler, the focus has as runner-ups for the national Vasseur snagged a perfect She was named as the Big been on helping the newcom- Pictured is Nick Medina grapples for his position and championship, had 13. score of 10 on her vault routine 12’s Gymnast of the Week on ers continue making the tran- take-down at the Western Conference Tournament in Hin- But through two meets this in the team’s win over Alabama Tuesday, one week after being sition from high school to col- ton. Courtesy photo. season, it’s been a youth mo- earlier this month, the first of named the Big 12’s Newcomer lege gymnastics. ment for the Sooners, as the her career. Sophomore Audrey of the Week. “So our only job after this underclassmen have been Davis’ score of 9.95 on bars led Kindler even compared Bow- meet is to get better, and they asked to play a bigger role than both teams. ers’ early success to Nichols’ know that.” The Graham Jam Thunder Play Cleveland, Dallas Tough Over Holiday Weekend By Graham Dudley Oklahoma City had a chance. After the game, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said As the NBA and the country celebrated the legacy of Dr. Gilgeous-Alexander was "good, obviously." Martin Luther King Jr., OKC traveled down the road to take on "I thought he played with great pace tonight," Daigneault said. the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night. With a healthy Luka "He didn't hold the ball very much at all. They were double-team- Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, Dallas was looking for its ninth ing him on a lot of catches and a lot of times, before the double win in the past 10 ballgames. could get to him, he was already attacking. That's the value of play- It seemed to be cruising. In the third quarter, Dallas stretched its ing faster. ... He obviously got it really going during that run in the lead to 22 points behind a barrage of 3-pointers. third quarter." But Oklahoma City's comeback was swift and fierce. SGA, after a scoring slump to start 2022, has now scored 30- By the end of that quarter, the Thunder had clawed back within plus points in three of his past four ballgames. five points after their own 3-point makes and gritty play from Shai Oklahoma City's Monday effort was reminiscent of its Saturday Gilgeous-Alexander, who was getting to the line consistently. at home, when the team matched up with the surprising Cleveland Oklahoma City had hung in there, but never could take the lead Cavaliers. Cleveland has surpassed expectations with one of the in the fourth quarter. Just when all seemed hopeless — a five-point top records in the East so far this year, but OKC gave the Cavs all Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Giddey reacts deficit with less than 10 seconds to play — guard Ty Jerome hit a they could handle before falling 107-102. after making a 3-point shot in the fourth quarter clutch 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left to cut the deficit to two, Oklahoma City led for most of the game, and was up by as against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. (Wendell 104-102. much as 18 in the third quarter, before Cleveland took the lead in Cruz-USA TODAY Sports) The Thunder fouled immediately, and Dallas' Josh Green missed the early fourth. both his free throws on the other end. In many ways, Saturday's and Monday's losses were a best-case OKC didn't help its draft chances when it throttled Brooklyn in That set up one inbounds pass and one shot for the tie or the scenario for the Thunder. They were disappointing, sure, but also New York last Thursday, but the fun and dominant win was well win. Oklahoma City's best passer, Josh Giddey, took the ball on the saw OKC play very well against good teams before falling narrow- worth it. The Thunder notched their first victory of 2022 by beat- sideline with the team's best shooters on the floor. ly, and increasing its draft odds in the process. ing the Nets 130-109, as Brooklyn looked sluggish without Kevin But the Mavs stuck to their men and, when Giddey tried to whip Oklahoma City is now 14-29, which is the second-worst record Durant and coming off a jam-packed schedule of games. a cross-court pass to shooting specialist Mike Muscala, Tim in the Western Conference and the fourth-worst in the league, Monday's loss in Dallas kicked off a four-game road trip for Hardaway Jr. stole the ball away as the clock expired to preserve overall. But OKC is just 2 games better than the Houston Rockets Daigneault's squad. It'll continue Wednesday in San Antonio Dallas' narrow victory. — and if the Thunder fell to the third-worst record, they would before Oklahoma City heads east for matchups with Charlotte on Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 34 points and shot 61.1% have the same draft odds as the worst team in the league. Friday and Cleveland on Saturday. from the field, another efficient masterpiece from the team's best Each of the three worst teams has an identical 14% chance at OKC returns to the Paycom Center on Monday, Jan. 24 against All-Star candidate. Lu Dort had 18 points and seven rebounds, the No. 1 overall pick, and is more likely than not to pick inside the the Chicago Bulls. while Giddey finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. top four. Thunder Up!