Lewallen stands alone...until

If Kevin Lewallen had his way, last weekend never would have happened.

Or, at the very least, history may have belonged to someone else.

Lomega trampled Leedey 71-44 last Saturday at OG&E Coliseum in the Class B-II girls state championship game.

It was Lomega’s 17th girls basketball title, extending a record it’s now held for a number of years.

It was the first Class B-II championship and the first year in the new home of high school basketball state championships.

But the biggest piece of history belonged to Lewallen.

The championship was his ninth as a head coach, which perched him atop the record books for girls coaches in the state.

For two years Lewallen had been tied with the legendary Bertha Frank Teague.

He’s tied no longer, but it almost didn’t happen.

•••

When he graduated high school at Lomega in 1998, Kevin Lewallen tried to cut a deal with his dad.

“I told him that if he’d buy me a boat, I would move to Lake Texoma and become a fishing guide,” Lewallen said.

Lewallen loved to hunt and fish as did his father, Charles Lewallen, who was also the Lomega boys basketball coach at the time.

“I told him there was really only two things I was qualified to do,” the son recalls. “And that was either go be a fishing guide or go to college and become a coach.”

As it turned out, there was no choice to be made.

The elder Lewallen informed his son that he would not be purchasing a boat for him.

“So I went to Northwestern,” Lewallen said. “And the rest is history.”

History, indeed.

•••

Bertha Frank Teague is an icon, not just in girls high school basketball in Oklahoma, but the sport in general.

She coached 42 years at Byng, won 1,157 games and captured eight state championships.

Teague was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and her records, seemingly, were unapproachable.

Lewallen unknowingly began his quest in 200405 when he was named the head coach of the girls program at his alma mater. It was already a storied program.

The likes of Karen Edgar and Bruce Hobgood had given Lomega elite status as it owned eight titles prior to Lewallen.

He started to add to the legacy in 2007 when the Lady Raiders downed Dover in the Class B state championship game.

The pursuit was on. The Lady Raiders repeated in 2008 then won another in 2012.

Yet another championship, Lomega’s 12th as a program, came in 2015. That 52-39 victory over Coyle was significant in that it helped Lomega surpass Byng for the most state titles by a girls program in the state.

Lewallen got his second repeat when the Lady Raiders again hoisted the gold ball in 2016.

Maci (Mendell) Bedwell played on those 2015 and 2016 title teams.

She’s now a second grade teacher at Lomega Elementary where Lewallen also serves as dean of students.

Outside observers see Lewallen barking at his players for 32 minutes during games and even making a “cranky” face or two on the bench.

“One thing people don’t see is the genuine relationships he builds with his players. Outside of the gym, Coach Lewallen instilled a confidence in me that pushed me beyond my basketball ability,” Bedwell said. “No matter the team they’re playing, I don’t think any team of his has ever stepped on the court thinking they weren’t good enough.

“While some see it as arrogance, I see it as confidence instilled in a team to always believe they’re up for the challenge.”

And the yelling? “Why do you think these girls take it?” Bedwell asked. “Because they have a genuine respect for him and trust him.”

Another repeat was on the way when Lomega won titles in 2020 and 2021, the latter being a perfect season.

Lewallen now owned seven championships as a head coach and he was fewer than 20 years into his career.

Then came the tying of Teague.

Lomega toppled Lookeba- Sickles 53-43 to win the 2024 Class B crown.

Prior to that, Lewallen said the potential of setting the record wasn’t something that mattered.

“I probably lied to you,” he admits now.

The competitor in Lewallen kicked in.

He planted the seed after winning that championship.

“I’m never going to be the guy staying around and coaching until he’s 70,” Lewallen said in 2024. “I will never be going for the most wins.”

But titles?

“A state championship is a big deal,” he said. “That means something, so, yes, that record would be nice.”

The goal, for everyone, was to get the record in 2025.

Lomega was No. 1 for a large part of the year, but fell short of reaching state when it lost back-to-back games at area.

“We wanted to do it for him last year,” said Hadley Ott, a senior on this year’s team. “But we didn’t get it done.”

It was at the forefront of everyone’s mind this year, even, he’ll admit, Lewallen’s.

“I probably didn’t enjoy this season as much as I should,” he said. “Because winning the state championship was almost all I could think about. We were so focused on that and maybe we didn’t take in everything else.”

Lomega won its first 12 games of the season before running into Class 3A’s No. 1 Washington in, ironically, the Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic.

The Lady Warriors beat Lomega en route to winning the tournament title.

And Lomega didn’t lose again.

They won their last 18 games, went virtually untested in the playoffs, and got the title for Lewallen.

And instead of the traditional dogpile at midcourt after the final buzzer, the Lady Raiders made a u-turn and headed straight for Lewallen by the Lomega bench.

“I realized what was happening and knew I had two options,” Lewallen said. “I could run from them like a coward, or I could stand there and take it.”

He took it as the Lady Raiders dragged him to the ground and made him the base of the pile.

“It was a collective idea,” Ott said. “I think Jenny (Peñaran) brought it up first, but we all agreed. We looked a little confused at first because we didn’t know where he went.

“We had to chase him down, but we got him.”

And Lewallen got the record.

“Once I got to eight, I realized I didn’t want to be tied,” Lewallen admits. “So, yeah, it’s a great feeling to be able to accomplish something like that.”

But how did he? Lewallen will be the first to claim it’s the players in the blue and white uniforms.

“I’ve coached some really, really good girls,” he said in 2024. “I’ve become a good bus driver. All credit goes to them. I just try to make little adjustments here and there.”

He also builds the culture of playing his brand of basketball at an early age. Lewallen starts working with the players beginning in the third grade.

“I try to teach them to play the game the best I can at a young age. I truly believe one reason we are good is because we do it from the third grade up,” he said.

“I try to teach the game of basketball and then I let you play and the girls have really bought into that.”

Brady Hamar is right on Lewallen’s heels.

The Seiling girls head coach has led the Ladycats to seven of their nine titles (they were the B-I runner- up this season).

The teams have played each other the past several seasons and he’s seen firsthand how Lewallen has been successful.

“I think the best thing he has done is he has the girls totally ‘bought in,’” Hamar said. “They are completely committed to Lomega basketball.”

Bedwell said Lewallen’s players are bought in because he also has a trust in them.

“I think something that sets him apart from other coaches is that he trusts his players to go out and do their thing,” she said. “He knows what they’re capable of and doesn’t try to control that. He gives his players the freedom to just go out and play.”

That freedom and that “buy in,” Hamar said, translates onto the court.

“And then the second thing is how hard he gets them to play,” he added. “Those two things will have them in contention to win it every year, in my opinion.”

There’s that, too. On top of winning it nine times, Lewallen has had the Lady Raiders in the finals four other years (2013, 2017, 2022, 2023).

“The losses stick to you more than the wins,” Lewallen has said.

But he’s won a lot.

Through 22 seasons, his teams are 587-93, which is better than 86 percent.

That’s an average of about 27-4 every year.

As he said, Lewallen - not even 50 - likely won’t coach long enough to set any wins records.

But he does have the big one…all by himself.

“Everybody wants to win the state championship when they start the season. That’s the goal,” Lewallen said. “So to say you’ve done that more than anyone else is a special feeling.”