BARTLESVILLE LADY BRUINS BASKETBALL RETURNS FOUR VETERAN SENIOR STARTERS
Bartlesville High School’s Sami Sheaffer drives to the basket during last season. The Lady Bruins are returning four veteran starters, including Sheaffer.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Bartlesville High School’s Emma Zimmerman puts up a shot during last season. The Lady Bruins are returning four veteran starters, including Zimmerman.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
July 22, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Returning most of the firepower of last year’s winning team, the Bartlesville High School girls basketball team could be on the launching-pad of some high-flying achievements next winter.
Of course, speculation is only seeds in the soil. The potential yield depends on proper preparation, healthy experienced cultivation, savvy seasoning, adjustment to unpredictable conditions and a bit of hard-earned luck.
Based on summer team camp play, the return of four seniors with starting finesse — and the unexpected addition of welcome height and grit — the Lady Bruins could have all the right factors to rise to a new stratosphere of success.
“My hope is (Lady Bruin fans) will see an improvement from what we built on last year (13-12, the program’s first winning record since 2018-29),” veteran Lady Bruin head coach Justyn Shaw said. “Last year we changed things up on the speed we play at.”
Whether in transition mode or halfcourt style, Shaw will depend heavily on his four veteran seniors — Sami Sheaffer (6-0), Emma Zimmerman (5-7), Kenzie Denny (5-10) and Cadence Gray (5-8) — to lead the way.
“They’ve built a lot of chemistry. … This is the first year we have a very much senior laden team. These four will be the core of our varsity team. These four will be the core of our success.”
Shaw will be looking for sophomore-to-be Addison Jones to strengthen the backcourt.
Rounding out his main six coming out of summer activities is sophomore Shaylyn Ishem (5-11), a transfer from Dewey High School.
“She’s long, real slender and athletic,” said Shaw. “She’s got real good instincts and has a lot of different tools. … She’s been playing A.A.U. ball all summer. When she stepped on the floor at the Cleveland team camp, she immediately made a difference. … She still needs to work on some of her post game.”
Bartlesville rolled through the Cleveland team camp with a 7-1 record, dropping a close decision to a very strong Glenpool team.
“I thought it was a good tune-up,” Shaw said about the Cleveland camp. “I thought we played well in transition. I think we started to understand how we want to play pushing the ball up the floor.”
Bartlesville also competed in the Pittsburg (Kan.) State team camp.
“They’ve been recruiting Sami since she was in the ninth grade,” said Shaw. “We got to play eight games. All but one of our games was played on their main game floor.”
Sheaffer is the team’s returning leading scorer and fits in comfortably in a shooting guard role although she can play well anywhere on the floor. She has received multiple Division I college offers and recently committed to the University of Central Arkansas.
Shaw is counting on Ishem to bring strong post play to complement give the guards more options. She could be an intimidating presence for opponents shooting down low, he added.
“We don’t have a lot of size as far as our depth goes,” he said. “But this will be the best guard corps I’ve had.”
During team camp action, “we had a natural instinct to play faster,” he added. “I think what our challenge is going to be is to play in the halfcourt.”
Developing quality depth is another project for Shaw.
“Most definitely we have six girls that will be playing in that rotation,” he said. “I have four guards and four seniors that can all play at a high level.”
It’s been a journey of discovery and progress for Shaw since he became head coach in 2021, inheriting a team that had finished 3-15 the previous season.
The Lady Bruins nudged to slight improvement during Shaw’s first season (2021-22, 4-20), made a solid stride in 2022-23 (7-15) when some of this year’s seniors were sophomores in the program, guided the team to double-digit wins in 2023-24 (12-13) and checked in at 13-12 in 2024-25.
With so much quality veteran talent back with a mix of youthful skill and potential, optimism is one of the key aspects of outlook for the 2025-26 campaign.