Lady Bobcats punch ticket to next round

It was a mixed bag for the Superior boys’ and girls’ basketball teams this past weekend at the Western 7B district tournament in St. Ignatius.

The Lady Bobcats punched a ticket to the Western Divisional tournament in Butte this weekend with a fourth-place finish following their 52-44 consolation final loss to Eureka Saturday in St. Ignatius (see accompanying story). 

Earlier in the week in a seeding play-in game, Superior routed the Troy girls 70-39, sending them to the semifinal round against host St. Ignatius, which upended the Lady Bobcats 62-13. 

The Bobcats boys, meanwhile, lost a hard-fought play-in game this past Tuesday by a 38-31 score, then were eliminated by St. Ignatius in the next round Saturday, 52-48.  That loss ended their season, leaving them with a 6-13 record for the season. 

In the opening round game with Eureka, the Bobcats fell behind 13-7 after the first eight minutes of play, then were held scoreless in the second quarter by the Lions defense, which built their halftime lead to 20-7. 

Both teams scored 12 points in the third quarter, sending the game to the fourth quarter with Eureka ahead 32-19.  Superior fought back in the fourth quarter, outscoring Eureka 12-6, but their rally fell short as the final horn sounded. 

Sophomore post Landon Richards, who missed some time at the end of the season with a leg injury, paced Superior in scoring with 12 points. 

That loss sent the cats into the consolation side of the bracket, setting up a game against tournament host St. Ignatius.  Superior fought to a 15-14 lead after one quarter of play, then were held to two second quarter points as the Bulldogs established a 23-17 lead at the half. 

Superior continued fighting, outscoring St. Ignatius 31-29 in the second half, but their rally fell just short. 

The Lady Bobcats first round game against Troy was pretty much settled early on as Superior roared out to a 15-6 lead after the first eight minutes of play.  The Lady Cats then expanded their advantage to 40-23 at the half. 

Superior continued its mastery of the game in the second half, outscoring the Lady Trojans 30-16 to wrap up the lopsided win. 

Sophomore guard Josie Crabb had an awesome game for the Lady Bobcats, scoring a game-high 34 points.  Two others Lady Bobcats, Maryisa Swope and Braelynn Mangold added 12 and 10 points respectively for the winners. 

Friday, the Lady Cats took on eventual tournament champion St. Ignatius and fell behind 24-6 after the first quarter.  The host Lady Bulldogs grew their lead to 44-11 at halftime. 

Then, in the third quarter, St. Ignatius held the Cats scoreless while adding 14 more points to their lead. 

St. Ignatius wrapped up their win with a 7-2 fourth quarter scoring edge. 

Kason Page led St. Ignatius with 17 points, while Superior was paced by Crabb’s team-high four points.  The loss to St. Ignatius set the Cats up with the fourth seed, good for a spot in the Western Division tournament this weekend in Hamilton.