Lady Blackhawks take second in District

By MIKE BURRIS

The Adrian Blackhawks and Archie Whirlwinds girls basketball teams met in the second round of district tournament play March 4 at Adrian’s home court. The Blackhawks pulled out the victory, upsetting the favored Whirlwinds 58-43 in front of a large crowd of supporters for both teams.

Adrian came out of the gate fast and furious stunning the Whirlwinds with a first quarter score of 19-6. The Blackhawks would equal Archie’s fifteen second quarter points and take a commanding thirteen point lead into halftime. The third quarter was the hiccup in scoring for the Blackhawks as the Archie girls narrowed the lead by a single point. The fourth quarter, particularly down the stretch, Adrian was able to pull away and finish off the fifteen point victory, thus avenging an earlier season loss.

The victory by Adrian pushed their record to an impressive 22-5 overall and put them up against the Osceola Indians for the district championship game. A strong performance by the Lady Blackhawks helped set the table for a rematch of last year’s title game in which Osceola won, advancing them to sectional play in Harrisonville.

“We had a great game right out of the chute” said head coach Nathan Dingman. “The game was close with both teams having to work hard for everything they got.”

Saturday, March 6th the Lady Blackhawks went head-to-head with the heavily favored Osceola Indians and gave them everything they could handle before falling by the score of 58-47.

Adrian played a tough ballgame and showed tremendous courage by mounting a very impressive third quarter of basketball coming out of halftime. Adrian erased a ten point halftime deficit and took a five point lead before allowing the Osceola girls to tie the game up leading into the final quarter of play. The fourth quarter ended up being a bit too much as the Osceola Indians righted their ship and finished off the Blackhawks season with a 22 point outburst in the fourth quarter to Adrian’s nine, setting up the final score.

The Adrian girls played their hearts out but lost to a very talented team leaving no reason to be ashamed at the outcome. “It was a great game to be a part of” added Dingman. “Both teams played to, or above, their abilities.”

Right: Front row - Natasha Lowrie, LeeAnna Reid, Bailey Carroll, Kaleigh Lock, Whitney Bagby, Katy Gray, Nichole Cogbill. Back row - Head Coach Nathan Dingman, Anna Dickerson, Chelsea Urie, Courtney Miller, Brenna Tallman, Emily Hughes, Olivia Case, Lesley Cox, Assistant Coach Amy Basore.

Middle: Brenna Tallman drives the lane for two against Osceola’s Jordan Garrison during the District championship Saturday night at Adrian.

Far right: Emily Hughes takes the ball to the basket past Archie’s Stephani Simms.