To say that the basketball area playoffs yesterday, March 6th, were an experience would be an understatement.
The Kingfisher boys played at 2:30 at Kellyville High School and finished around 4:45. I knew storms were coming and that most of the action would be closer to Tulsa, but I didn’t realize just how much of it I’d be in the middle of.
The girls didn’t play until 6:00, which meant I had about an hour and fifteen minutes to kill. If you know where Kellyville is, you know it’s about two hours from Kingfisher and there’s not much to do there. So I was just chilling in my car when the storm clouds rolled in and it started raining. I figured it might be a good idea to go inside, because if a tornado shows up, being in a building is definitely better than sitting in a car.
Normally when I have to drive pretty far for these playoff games, I try to take my dad with me, just to get a little father-daughter time in, but also because I’m not a fan of driving. Well, not that I’m not, but my body isn’t. As soon as I get in a moving vehicle, I’m ready to catch some z’s or flies, as my dad likes to put it. So I headed into the building to wait it out, not knowing just how eventful that wait would become.
I casually walked up the stairs and headed toward the doors. When I got inside, some of the staff told me to head downstairs to the gym/athletic room because it’s a safe room.
There were already a lot of people there. Most of the Locust Grove group was already in the building since that’s who Kingfisher was playing. There were also players and cheerleaders from Tulsa McLain who had stayed instead of trying to drive through the storm after their earlier game. On top of that, a good portion of our Kingfisher people were already there too.
Before they had announced for us to go into the weight room, we were all standing around in the basement of the building when I got a text from my dad saying that a tornado had just touched down in Bristow, which is only 15 minutes from Kellyville. So that was comforting.
Staff started telling everyone to pack into the safe room as much as possible. Some people didn’t want to because they said there wasn’t enough room, even though there definitely was. When it comes to safety, you pack in like sardines.
The funny part was the room we were told to go into looked like a workout room, and there was a guy already in there lifting when all this started. We’re all packing in because of a tornado warning, and this dude just keeps getting his workout in. I mean, power to him I guess, but priorities my guy.
Eventually we got the all clear. The only downside was we still had about 40 minutes until game time. The girls warmed up a little, went back to the locker room, and then came back out about 15 minutes before tip-off. The game finally started around 6:45.
Throughout the game they kept reminding us they were monitoring the weather and told each section where to go if we needed to take shelter again. Thankfully we were able to start and finish the game without any interruptions from the storms or tornadoes.
Unfortunately, we weren’t as fortunate on the scoreboard.
Today, March 7th is the third and final day of the area tournament in Kellyville. The girls play at 6:00 and the boys at 7:30, both needing a win to advance to the state tournament next week. Say a little prayer that the tornadoes stay away and let these kids play. Even better, let’s get a win and punch that ticket to state.
Dash cam photo by Greg McLaughlin of the tornado that touched down in Bristow.
