Dover makes long-awaited return

There was a time when Dover ruled the Class B girls basketball landscape.

The Lady Longhorns’ program made eight consecutive state tournaments and played in every state championship game from 2001 through 2007.

They became the first 5-on-5 girls team to win three straight titles, doing so in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

They won another in 2005 and collected silver balls in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Dover had dominant stretches against the likes of Lomega and Okarche, two teams with fairly sizable traditions in their own right.

They beat teams not only in Class B and Class A, but in every other classification the state had to offer.

For a stretch, Dover was the standard of basketball excellence.

And then it faded away.

Gold balls turned into losing seasons…some were winless.

The program was no longer brought up when it came to the heavyweights of Oklahoma high school girls basketball.

But on Friday, Dover officially announced its return.

Behind a stubborn defensive effort, the Lady Longhorns downed No. 7 Pittsburg 35-27 for a Class B area championship in Henryetta.

Dover is back in state for the first time since the team’s last state title game appearance in 2007.

It’s been 17 years. Their senior leaders were in diapers and many of the other Lady Longhorns had yet to be born the last time Dover made an appearance at State Fair Arena.

“The girls were super excited and emotional after we punched our ticket,” said head coach Matt Peck.

“We talk about tradition here a lot, so the girls were excited to get back to the state tournament. It’s a dream-come-true for a lot of the girls, for sure.”

Dover is at state for the 15th time overall.

Pittsburg has been recent visitors to state, including beating Lomega for the 2022 title and then losing to the Lady Raiders in last year’s semifinals. They entered Friday night’s game ranked seventh.

“We knew defense and rebounding would be key,” Peck said.

Dover focused its defensive efforts on Aspen Duvall and Akiera Hawk.

“We worked all week on defense to figure out a way to take them out of the game or at least limit them,” Peck said.

For the most part, it worked.

Duvall made a 3-pointer in the first quarter, but didn’t score the rest of the night.

Hawk scored 11, but got seven of those points at the foul line.

The rest of the team struggled to score much of the night.

Karlee Harviston and Rylee Buck each made first-quarter 3-pointers and combined to score 11 points in the first quarter as Dover got out to a 14-7 lead.

Karlee and Katelyn Harviston scored all eight points in the second as it grew to 22-13.

But the scoring for Dover came to a near halt in the third quarter as Pittsburg crept back into it.

The Lady Longhorns went without a field goal as Pittsburg went on a 10-2 run to get within 24-23 after the third quarter.

The roles reversed in the fourth.

Pittsburg couldn’t manage a field goal…just four Hawk free throws.

Katelyn Harviston went 6 of 6 at the foul line to help maintain and extend the lead.

She finished with 12 points, eight of them in the second half and all from the free throw line.

Karlee Harviston led the team with 13, 10 of them in the first half.

Buck scored seven and Madison Goodwin three.

It wasn’t much, especially by Dover’s high-scoring standards, but it was enough.

“We knew we had to take care of the ball on offense, too,” Peck said. “They’re a defensive-minded team and they had a great game plan against us.”

The Lady Longhorns make their return to The Big House at noon Wednesday against No. 15 Turner.

The Lady Falcons are 28-4 while No. 1 Dover is 27-2.

Peck knows the work isn’t done if the Lady Longhorns want to increase the number in the win column.

“So much more has to be done. The focus and maturity levels have to keep growing in how we get prepared in practice and perform on game day,” Peck said.

“Hopefully we can make the best of our opportunity.”