BASKETBALL: Area teams advance to area

Austin Litterell, The Express-Star, Chickasha, Okla.
·2 min read

Feb. 24—EDITOR'S NOTE — This story might be online only.

Area tournaments in Classes A and B will begin Thursday.

Three teams from two area schools have advanced to area play after making their way through the regional tournaments last week and this week. Ninnekah and Cyril each had at least one team advance to area play.

Two teams from each area qualify for state.

Ninnekah

The Ninnekah girls have advanced to one of the Class A area tournaments after avoiding elimination two times during the regional tournament.

Following a win over Alex in the district title game, ninth-ranked Ninnekah suffered a loss to Geronimo and had to work its way through the consolation bracket. The Lady Owls needed to win two games to advance to area and were able to do that.

Ninnekah responded to its loss to Geronimo with a 12-point win over Southwest Covenant. The Lady Owls picked up a 43-31 victory and ended up playing Carnegie for an area tournament spot.

Ninnekah clinched an area tournament spot with a 50-42 win over Carnegie.

The Lady Owls will play the fourth-ranked Cheyenne-Reydon Lady Bears on Thursday. The game will start at 1 p.m. and will take place at Cache.

Cyril

Both Cyril teams will get to participate in area play in Class B.

The ninth-ranked Lady Pirates defeated Paoli in the district title game and advanced to the regional title game with a win over Sasakwa, clinching an area spot in the process.

The Lady Pirates suffered a 52-38 loss to third-ranked Varnum in the title game and will face Stringtown at 1 p.m. Thursday. Cyril will play at Byng.

The ninth-ranked Cyril boys defeated Paoli in the district title game before taking down 15th-ranked Sasakwa in its first regional game. The Pirates fell to top-ranked Varnum in the regional title game by a score of 52-40.

The Pirates will also begin area play at Byng on Thursday. They will face Stringtown in a game that will follow the 1 p.m. game.