High school girls basketball roundup: Edmond Santa Fe looks like old self in win

Keira Neal took flight despite the odds of blocking the shot.

Edmond Santa Fe’s star guard is 5 feet 9. Edmond Memorial’s star forward Katelyn Levings is 6 feet 3. The math doesn’t add up.

Yet Neal had little issue swatting Levings’ 3-pointer in the second quarter.

“It’s natural,” Neal said. “It’s a natural reaction.”

No. 15 Edmond Santa Fe looked like the Wolves of old Friday night, using a suffocating defense led by Neal to stifle No. 7 Edmond Memorial 61-50 to close out the regular season.

Santa Fe forced 16 turnovers, with Neal totaling six steals while limiting Levings, an Arizona State commitment, to just eight points.

“That’s Santa Fe,” Edmond Santa Fe coach Paul Bass. “We love to play great defense.”

Neal, who has signed with North Texas, filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocks — two of which came on Levings.

Her defense and athleticism set up her teammates, too.

Kryslyn Jones scored a team-high 20 points, closing the game with a trio of 3s. Kaylee Nero finished with a double-double behind 17 points and 10 rebounds.

McGuinness rolls

McGuinness coach Richie Henderson is happy to see his team’s big-league experience paying off.

No. 15 McGuinness blew past Berryhill 58-32 on in the Class 4A district tournament.

Leading the way was junior Maddie McClurg, who scored 24 points and dished seven assists while also recording three steals.

McClurg also passed surpassed the 1,000-point scoring mark for her career.

Henderson said he feels like the Fighting Irish’s experience playing in a conference with mostly 5A and 6A teams is going to payoff now that the playoffs have started.

“We have seen some good teams,” she said. “Now hopefully we can put that all together and keep going.”

1,000-point club

Norman North senior Jacie Evans is the latest player locally to join the 1,000-point club, becoming the seventh in school history.

She scored 20 points in the fourth-ranked Timberwolves 52-41 win over No. 5 Edmond North, which had won 14 straight.

District victories

Bethel advanced in the Class 4A playoffs with a 63-46 district tournament win over Hilldale behind Kirsten Winters’ 21 and Kelsie Wood’s 20. … Katie King scored 18 in a 51-42 win over Southeast … Callie Hacker and Carly Craig led Blanchard to a 57-27 rout of Seminole with 13 points apiece.