Oklahoma dominates basketball

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Oklahoma girls haven't played much five-on-five basketball ? the state officially switches from six-on-six this year ? but you'd never have known it at the North American Indigenous Games. The bantam, midget and juvenile basketball teams all took home gold medals.

"We were a bit surprised by the level of play," said assistant midget (15 and 16 years old) coach Jan Gilmore, from Ada, Oklahoma. "It wasn't always up to what we were expecting."

"The competition we've had there has been easy," agreed post Leta Factor from Sasakwa, Okla., prior to the semi-final. "We play hard enough that we can't beat them ? I know we can."

"I'm pretty confident in our team," echoed Alyson Crawford from Vanoss, Okla. "It's a good tournament, but I was hoping for more competition. I grew up playing basketball." The 15-year-old high school junior has been on courts for 12 years.

The experience, coaching and confidence came through in the final against Team Arizona, although they did meet some competition there: Oklahoma edged the southwestern state 47-44 for the gold. It was by far their closest result ? they'd already beaten the host team twice (34-20 and 44-32 in the semi-final), Alberta 47-9 and Florida 47-13.

The juvenile girls set a standard no other team approached, winning 52-24 over South Dakota in the gold medal game. The Floyd Jone coached team had racked up victories over North Dakota 42-28, Arizona 46-28, Quebec 68-6 and Minnesota 48-26 before whipping Arizona 54-36 in the semi-final.

The teams had been practicing since April.