Two more teams punched their tickets to the championship games of the Purple and Gold Tournament in Wakeeney.
The evening started with the Trego Golden Eagles and the Victoria Lady Knights squaring off on the girls side of the bracket. Victoria, who listed no seniors on their roster, knew they had a tough challenge in the Golden Eagles, who are ranked 4th in the state at the 2A level.
The Lady Knights started the game strong and led 17-11 at the end of the first quarter. They led by as many as 9 in the second half, but had there lead reduced to 24-19 at the half.
Things were looking good for the Lady Knights, but the Golden Eagles turned the momentum in a big way in the 3rd. The Trego defense put on a superb showing, outscoring Victoria 13-1 in the 3rd quarter. That made the score 32-25 in favor of the Golden Eagles.
The 4th quarter was more of the same as Trego furthered their lead and won the game 53-39.
Madison Walt had 20 points and 7 rebounds for Trego, Tillie Malinowsky chipped in 8 points and 4 rebounds. Lydia Sander led the Knights with 7 points.
Trego (3-0) will play Oakley in the championship game tonight. That game is set for a 6 o'clock tip and can be heard on 101.9 the Bull. Victoria (2-1) will play Stockton for 3rd place.
The second game of the evening featured the Lacrosse Leopards and the Ness City Eagles.
The Leopards jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, but it was a dog fight the rest of the way. Ness City led 10-9 at the end of the 1st quarter and 23-20 at the half.
Not much changed in the 3rd quarter as both teams put on stellar defense, leading to a 30-27 Eagle lead heading into the 4th.
The 4th quarter saw several momentum swings and the Leopards led by a single point with about 4 minutes left. However, it was all Eagles from there as Ness City ended the game on a hot streak, giving them the 47-39 win.
Taylor Cable led all scorers with 22 points. He also had 7 rebounds. Jose Lopez had 4 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles. Hunter Morgan had 15 points for the Leopards. Blake Pierce chipped in 11 points, including 3 3-pointers.
Ness City (3-0) will play rival Hodgeman County tonight for the championship. That game is set for a 7:30 tip and can be heard on 101.9 the Bull. Lacrosse (2-1) will face Stockton in the 3rd place game.