At Hartshorne’s Taylor Gymnasium, instead of walking into a Christmas-themed trim of red and green, all you saw from wall to wall was pink.

That’s because of Coaches Versus Cancer, a program dedicated to raising money to help with prosthetics, wigs, and many other ways of assisting those afflicted with cancer. Fans paid one dollar per entry in the raffle for the two game balls that were pink as well.

Streamers lined the handrails, Hartshorne’s cheer team wore pink T-shirts, and even the coaches wore pink polos to join in the display of breast cancer awareness.

With the highest level of generosity, Hartshorne’s fans and students, as well as the Crowder faithful, all managed to raise 1224 dollars and help in battling a faceless enemy.

The American Cancer Society’s Maranda Figueroa commented on the success of CVC, “This is the second year of Coaches Versus Cancer in Oklahoma high schools and there’s 25 schools in eastern Oklahoma participating with 50 statewide. It’s been a national program for several years, but it has been on the collegiate level more than anything. The people that are involved show an incredible display of support and they are helping us in our goals. We want to find the end of cancer.”

I was excited to see all the pink and I hope it catches on and they do it every year. When everyone shows up like this, teachers, parents, and students, it really shows that our community gets behind the cause. It is important too. Anybody can get cancer. It doesn’t care how old you are, it doesn’t care about your skin color, your gender, or your plans,” Carrie Kirkes said after the games.

Kirkes is a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed with the illness 13 years ago. With a strong support system and through the kindness of others, she is able to watch her son, Austin Kirkes, run and throw for touchdowns as a Miner as well as watch her little girl grow up. These results might not have been possible without the kind of concern for our fellow man that all the Hartshorne and Crowder fans displayed Thursday evening.

Oh yeah, and there was also a couple basketball games. Hartshorne’s ladies were trying to rebound from their loss in the third place round of the Crowder Invitational. The scenario for the Demonettes wasn’t much different. They lost in the championship game with Oktaha, the only team to beat Crowder’s ladies this year.

Kelsey “K-Mart” Martin was critical in making sure her team didn’t lose back-to-back games. She found her way to the basket for the first Demonettes score.

For the first impressive defensive effort for the Demonettes was Amy Blagg who rejected a shot attempt by Amy John of the Lady Miners. In no time, Crowder began piling on more points.

Martin made the backboard her best friend as she laid shot after shot off the glass. Blagg continued to swat shot attempts and made Lady Miners pay for their intrusion into her zone.

Crowder was up by eight when Shelby Trueblood was fouled after securing an offensive rebound. Trueblood got the Lady Miners on the board for the first time with her second of the two free throws.

Due to Kirby Holt’s ability to come down with a rebound and pass it off to Trueblood, Tracy Tiger found herself open. After an assist by Trueblood, Tiger busted a three. That left the Lady Miners down by only four, but soon Brittiany Smith hit a layup and Paige Tucker nailed a three with insane range.

Alex Tucker did what she always does. She created space for herself with crossovers and took the open shots that she presented herself with. She was also able to find Martin with a few awesome passes, but she prevailed mostly on defense.

In the second quarter, the Lady Miners scored just five points. Hartshorne’s ladies only found the basket once in the third quarter and that was from the free throw line.

One play, Tucker swatted the ball away from a Lady Miner and Martin caught it. Instead of taking the ball up for a layup, she found Alex coming around the key and handed it off to her. Alex sunk the layup and got fouled in the process. She capitalized and made it a three-point play.

Hartshorne showed real flashes of brilliance and even made it a three-possession game late in the fourth, but ultimately, were outmatched by the sheer teamwork and execution of Crowder’s Demonettes. Crowder’s girls rebounded well from their second loss to Oktaha with their first win against a higher-class opponent.

“We didn’t shoot very well tonight. Hartshorne played well and presented us with some challenges that will help us to get better and more prepared for the state playoffs. It looked like they ran a box one, keeping one lady manned up on Alex and the rest in zone,” the Demonettes’ Head Coach Hollye Jernigen said after the game. “We’re looking forward to playing Okay in the first round of the Arkansas River Shootout in Webbers Falls Jan. 4.”

Hartshorne’s guys were able to avenge their female counterparts, but despite a 13-point victory, it didn’t come easy.

Hartshorne scored first after Mario Harden tipped the ball to CJ Nelson. Jacob Little answered immediately with a jumpshot.

Gary Romine saw inescapable pressure from the Miners. He was courageous in staying down low and making his presence felt. He even managed to snag a steal in the first quarter, but, offensively, was limited to just one layup.

Ross Rose came in for the Miners sparingly and did manage to reenact some of the same plays that put Nelson in the end zone at Butler-Jennings Field. Laser passes and precision dishes gave Hartshorne’s dudes an advantage.

Another advantage they had was their bench. Jalen Glass came in and immediately came down with a rebound and found Trey Case all alone on the paydirt side of the court.

After Romine and Glass exchanged baseline jumpshots and layups, Romine landed a killer block on another Miner.

He dominated the pace of the second quarter and helped his team outscore the Miners for the middle two quarters 30-25. The Demons even managed to pull ahead a couple times and keep the game close until the final quarter.

Keyton Jameson was instrumental in doing so with a pair of threes that tied him with Romine for second-quarter production at six points. Austin Culbertson was the source for the other two points the Demons scored in the quarter.

Freshman big man, John Tyler Perry, came off the bench and immediately ruined a shot attempt late in the second.

Dylan Parker nabbed a possession with a steal and on the fast break, he was fouled intelligently by Austin Smith. After missing the two free throws, the Demons stayed ahead 20-19.

Hartshorne's Miners didn’t give the Demons a chance to get comfortable though. Glass used his height to inflict points on the scoreboard. He had three tries before he finally made the shot from under the goal that put the Miners back on top 21-20.

After a missed shot by Crowder, Nelson grabbed a board and got it to Harden. Harden assisted Parker for a three-pointer that gave the Miners a four-point lead. Just as the Miners looked to be ending the quarter with that lead, Harden created a shot opportunity and nailed a jumper at the buzzer to give Hartshorne a 26-20 advantage heading into halftime.

The second half was just as exciting. Crowder came out strong in the third, but Hartshorne finished ferociously in the fourth. The final score would favor the Miners 61-48.

Caleb Collins had a great fourth quarter including an and-one layup that caused the crowd to vibrate the building. Austin Willson made two free throws back to back and sent the Miners up by a baker’s dozen, which would eventually be the final deficit.

Romine went out with style, sinking a finger roll lay-in after jumping from the free throw line with just seconds remaining.

Nelson couldn’t let him have the last word though and he took it to his side of the court, waited for the clock to tick down and then sank a buzzer-beating jumpshot that sent the mighty Miners home winners.

“We’re just trying to feel our way through it. We’re going to have to find ways to beat well-coached teams that are so disciplined. Crowder’s not a team that beats itself,” Head Coach of the Hartshorne Miners Jason Lindley said after the game.

“Coalgate is who we’ve got next tomorrow and that’s a team we have a history with. They beat us once in the regular season last year. We were able to avenge that loss with a solid game at districts but they won two-out-of-three when they beat us in regionals to go to area,” Lindley said.

Both schools have a tough test ahead. The Demons and Demonettes will prepare themselves for tournament play while Hartshorne gets ready for a rival that has the current bragging rights.