By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor – Yukon will open the 2018 portion of the schedule the same way the Millerettes ended 2017.
Facing a top 10 ranked team from Edmond.
The No. 16 ranked Millerettes will host No. 8 Deer Creek in a 6 p.m. Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference game.
YHS, 5-2, lost to No. 7 ranked Edmond Memorial in their last outing and will face a Deer Creek team that returns a big part of their class 6A state runner-up team.
Deer Creek also comes into the game with a 5-2 record. The Lady Antlers beat Edmond North 43-38 in their last outing and are coming off a runner-up finish in the Bixby Tournament. DCHS lost to Bixby 48-46 in the finals.
Deer Creek brings in a team that likes to play a fast pace game and that can shoot the three-point shots.
“Deer Creek will be a good game,” Millerette coach Roy Wyckoff said. They have a girl that has signed with the University of California. They were in the state championship game last year and they will be tough.
“It will be a challenge to come back and it will be good for us,” he said. “It will be tough, but we get to jump right back in and we have four games that first week we are back.”
The Millerettes will get a chance to tune-up before the Deer Creek game, scrimmaging Weatherford. The scrimmage starts at 10 a.m. The Millerettes also scrimmaged against the freshmen Millers during the week and Wyckoff said that has helped make the team a little tougher.
“We have been doing that some and that has been helpful for us,” Wyckoff said. “We are trying to get back in that swing of things. Hopefully they are refreshed and feeling good.”
Deer Creek returns a solid team. The Lady Antlers do have a new coach this year and lost one of their top players, but Wyckoff expects them to still be a challenge.
“They are a solid team,” he said. “We would like to get that win at home, it is out only home game in January. We have two tournaments and all our other games are on the road.
“That would be ideal to get that first one and start the new year off on a good foot,” he said. “It will be a challenge, but we are looking forward to it.”
The Millerettes head to Chickasha on Thursday to defend their tournament title at the Chickasha Invitational.
Yukon opens the tournament with a 1 p.m. contest against Oklahoma City Star Spencer. The Millerettes would play the winner of the Cache-Chickasha game in the semifinals on Friday.
“Lawton MacArthur is ranked No. 7 in 5A and are on the other side of the bracket,” Wyckoff said. “If we are fortunate enough to make the finals, we would probably end up playing them. But, anything can happen.
“That would be a big game,” he said. “But, we have to beat Star Spencer first, then would have to beat either Cache or Chickasha and Cache has a good bunch.”
Star Spencer has only one win so far this season and Cache has been off to a slower than normal start with a 3-5 record. Chickasha is 1-8.
Lawton Mac is the main challenger for the Millerettes. The Lady Highlanders are 5-2, but did beat Putnam City North in the finals of the Altus Tournaments.
The Millerettes are the only 6A team in the field and may feel some added pressure to win.
“I feel pressure every game, that we have to win every game,” Wyckoff said. “I feel like our girls have adopted mindset. It can at times be a negative, because we come out a little title.
“They feel pressure to win everything and going into the tournament the pressure is there to win everything. So, going into a tournament the goal is to win on Thursday and go from there. We would like to come away with four wins this week.”
