Girls Basketball: Norman wins first State Title since 2005, 44-31 against Norman North

They didn’t win their conference. They didn’t win their Region. But when it came down to it, the No. 12 ranked Norman High School girls basketball team (23-7) won the games that counted most, ending the season on a five-game streak for their fifth State Title and first since 2005. To make it extra sweet, the finals win came against their in-town rivals, No. 4 Norman North (22-7).

6’2” sophomore standout Kendra Gillispie led the Tigers with double-doubles in all three games of the tournament. She recorded 59 points and 37 rebounds in the three-round Championship.

The game marked the first State Title for the Central Oklahoma conference since 2015, and the first 6A title since 2012. The conference holds 23 titles overall and sixteen in the top classification. Frontier Valley continues to lead the top-class race with eighteen titles.

The final season rankings proved that polls don’t matter and only thing that counts is a team’s desire to win.

Only four of the top eight-ranked teams advanced to the State Tournament, and three of those four were knocked off in the quarterfinals. Three out of four semifinal teams weren’t even ranked in the top-ten, let alone the top-four.

Top-ranked Putnam West and No. 2 Shawnee tied for the longest win-streak of the season with 22-straight victories apiece. Jenks had the biggest win of the season, 94-11 over Daniel Webster. Sand Springs had the highest-scoring game, 109-39 over Muskogee.

State Tournament Results
Finals: Norman 44-31 Norman North.
SF: Norman 55-48 Edmond Santa Fe.
SF: Norman North 59-49 Mustang.
QF: Norman 59-52 Sand Springs.
QF: Edmond Santa Fe 51-43 Shawnee.
QF: Norman North 41-29 Union.
QF: Mustang 51-50 Putnam City West.

Class 6A by win/loss record
Shawnee (25-2)
Putnam West (23-2)
Sand Springs (21-5)
Union (21-6)
Norman (23-7)
Norman North (22-7)
Edmond North (20-7)
Choctaw (20-7)
Moore (19-7)
Mustang (20-9)
Midwest City (17-7)
Bartlesville (18-8)
Edmond Santa Fe (19-9)
Ponca City (16-8)
Edmond Memorial (17-9)
Deer Creek (16-10)
Booker T. Washington (16-11)
Sapulpa (13-10)
Westmoore (12-11)
Bixby (12-12)
Jenks (11-12)
Southmoore (9-14)
Putnam North (9-14)
Broken Arrow (9-15)
Enid (8-16)
Owasso (7-17)
Putnam City (6-15)
Yukon (6-17)
Stillwater (5-19)
Lawton (3-17)
U.S. Grant (2-20)
Muskogee (2-21)

Top Girls’ Offenses
73.4 Putnam City West
61.0 Jenks
60.3 Choctaw
59.6 Midwest City
59.4 Sand Springs
59.3 Shawnee
59.3 Booker T. Washington
58.8 Ponca City
58.5 Norman
58.4 Moore

Top Girls’ Defenses
36.9 Union
37.1 Shawnee
41.8 Edmond Memorial
42.4 Norman North
43.3 Bartlesville
43.3 Choctaw
45.3 Moore
45.4 Bixby
45.6 Edmond North
45.7 Sapulpa

Top Avg. Margin of Victory
23.9 Putnam City West
22.2 Shawnee
16.9 Choctaw
13.1 Moore
11.9 Norman
10.8 Sand Springs
10.7 Bartlesville
10.3 Union
10.2 Mustang
9.3 Midwest City

6A Conference Post-Season Records
25-18 Central Oklahoma - 3 Regional Champs, 3 Area Consolation Champs, 1 Area Champ, State Champ.
9-12 Frontier Valley - 3 Regional Champs, 2 Area Champs.
3-2 Suburban - 1 Area Champ.
5-8 Big Ten - 2 Regional Champs, 1 Area Champ.
0-1 All-City