Class A: No. 1-ranked Howe earns its first state title since 1959.....two stories -- The Crypt of Buffy's vampire

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Date Posted: 11:45:46 03/07/04 Sun
Author: Shelley
Subject: Class A: No. 1-ranked Howe earns its first state title since 1959.....two stories

YES Shell must brag!!!Iam extremely happy about my Alma Mater winning the Gold ball in State playoffs yesterday!!!Im so proud of these young Women.

As the final seconds wound down in the Class A girls state championship basketball game, Howe's Stephanie McGhee raised her hands, hugged several teammates and smiled.
The tears soon followed.

Behind another outstanding game, McGhee led top-ranked Howe to its first state title since 1959 with a 78-58 win Saturday over defending champion Frontier at State Fair Arena.

"I can't even describe it," McGhee said. "I have never cried after a game like I cried today. I am just so happy and relieved."

McGhee, playing for a state championship for the first time in a four- year career, delivered another dominating performance. The state's all- time scoring leader (more than 3,000 points) ended her high school career with 37 points and 19 rebounds on the biggest stage.

McGhee set the single-state tournament scoring record with 98 points. That broke the old mark of 94 points, set over three games in 2002 by Canute's Heather Kephart.

"The best player I have ever seen, man or woman," Howe coach Chris Brown said of McGhee, an Oklahoma signee. "The best player all- around -- rebound, defense, scoring, you name it."

The game was a matchup between two of Class A's best players in McGhee and Frontier's Jenna Plumley.

But the dual never materialized. Plumley, who carried Frontier to the title last year while being named tournament MVP, struggled. She shot 3-of-12 from the field and fouled out in the middle of the third quarter with the Mustangs trailing by 11 points.

"I am really down on myself because I fouled out," said a teary-eyed Plumley, who finished with 11 points. "I feel like it's my fault, but everybody keeps telling me that I was the one that got them here. It's just real hard to take home the second-place trophy."

But McGhee was her usual self Saturday. She finished 12-of-25 from the field and missed one of 13 free throws.

McGhee made sure she went out with a gold ball, scoring early and often.

McGhee controlled the game inside. Frontier (27-4) had no one to match up with McGhee. Then again, not many teams did.

"We didn't have an answer for her," Frontier coach Clay Stephens said. "You have a 6-1 girl that can get the rebound and dribble down and shoot layups. And we couldn't catch her."

The Lions (30-1) led the game from start to finish. McGhee scored 10 points in the first quarter, helping Howe charge to a 12-point lead.

McGhee added 11 points in the second quarter, but Frontier closed within 36-31 by halftime.

Howe put the game away in the third quarter. McGhee scored seven of Howe's 14 points, and the Lions led by 11 heading into the fourth quarter.

"They were playing a man-to-man sometimes, so I had to take advantage of it," McGhee said.

McGhee's move has worked for Howe

Howe won a state championship Saturday. Either that, or the gold ball moved to town two years ago, depending on how you look at it.
Miss Stephanie McGhee had 37 points and 19 rebounds as Howe beat Frontier 78-58 at State Fair Arena to win Class A girls. In summer 2002, McGhee moved to Howe from Pocola, on the other side of Le Flore County, where a beef over keys to the gym led to a school switch for the girl who would become the leading scorer in state history.

"They made our team 10 times better," Howe guard Symbra Wilson said of McGhee and Camie Cannady, who also moved over from Pocola. "We would have been good. But we wouldn't have been awesome."

So yes, McGhee made possible a state title for Howe. But the hugs were no less tight, the tears no less wet, the smiles no less wide for girls who long have dreamed of a magic March Saturday.

"I've grown up in the Big House," said Howe's Micah Baker. "I've dreamed of playing here. I never got the chance until this year."

Baker now climbs the family tree. Her great-grandmother played on Heavener's 1919 state title team. Her great-aunt (1939) and aunt (1959) played on state champions for Howe. Now Baker joins them, and no one on the Baker lineage cares where McGhee came from. Hey, we all come from somewhere.

Welcome to the transient world of high school basketball. It's not just kids at Northwest Classen and Midwest City and Putnam City jumping schools. It happens in the small towns, too. High school hoops is like the NFL; free agency has made you recheck the rosters every year.

Sometimes, success requires more than talent. Sometimes, success requires quick cohesion.

And by all accounts, McGhee's move to Howe went smoothly. Don't laugh. A superstar isn't always welcome. The addition of McGhee and Cannady took away the starting spots of two hometown girls, and McGhee alone took away dozens of shots and points from Howe veterans.

"Yeah, you give up some things," Howe coach Chris Brown said. "I can't say it was always harmonious. Kids sometimes think, 'Is it worth it?'

"But every game, the wins keep coming, and these kids want to win more.

"I have a unique team. They've always wanted to win. These girls, the bottom line, they wanted to win more than they cared about personal attention."

Don't get the wrong idea. Howe was not a one-girl team.

Against Frontier, Baker had 12 points, Wilson 10 and Cannady nine. Baker and Wilson each nailed a 3-pointer early as Howe spurted to a 22-13 lead in the wild first quarter.

And when McGhee went to the bench for a breather late in the third quarter, Howe didn't fold. In fact, Frontier star Jenna Plumley fouled out with McGhee resting, and when Wilson scored off a nifty pass from Baker and Miranda Vise scored off a feed from Baker, Howe suddenly led 54-41. Cannady's 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer made the score 59-43 and the fourth period a Howe countdown.

"Our team was the best team," Brown said. "We grew together for two years."

Baker admitted the Howe girls felt "iffy" when McGhee and Cannady showed up, but "when the basketball season came, we let it all go and it worked out for the best.

"They were cool. We get along great. They're great to play with. They're really good people."

Said Cannady, "Howe is a great place. It's hard to go to a new school. But they took us in like we lived there our whole lives."

Their whole lives. That's the ideal. A group of ballplayers who grew up together and fulfilled a dream in the Big House. It's often myth. Sometimes, teams win because players compromise.

Howe won the gold ball Saturday not just because Stephanie McGhee moved to town, but because some hometown girls dreamed big.

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