Action resumes in prep tournaments

While the cold temperatures were not pleasant on Monday and Tuesday, large crowds still braved the elements to watch their favorite prep basketball teams compete on the final tournament week before the playoffs.

The Comanche County, Caddo County and Stephens County tournaments have the largest area delegations and all three resume tonight.

It will be showdown night at the Great Plains Coliseum as the girls return for two consolation games and two semifinal matchups.

Today’s slate starts with Indiahoma and Fletcher girls playing at 4:30 p.m. followed by Big Pasture against Tipton around 5:50 p.m. The two winners advance to Saturday’s consolation finals while the losers are done for the week.

At around 7:10 p.m. top-seeded Chattanooga girls meet Sterling in the first semifinal and then Geronimo and Walters tangle around 8:30 p.m. in the second semifinal.

All four of the semifinal qualifiers are known for their pressure defense so fans should be in store for some fast action in both matchups.

The boys return Friday for their consolation and semifinal contests with Geronimo meeting Fletcher in the opener at 4:30 p.m. and Tipton and Indiahoma vying in the second consolation contest.

The semifinals feature Big Pasture against Walters at 7:10 p.m. with Chattanooga meeting Sterling in the final game around 8:30 p.m. on Friday.

Geronimo girls and Sterling boys are defending champions but both face stiff challenges.

The schedules at the Caddo and Stephens county tournaments are perfect for fans wanting to see four semifinal games on one night.

Caddo has four consolation semifinal games today and its semifinals on Friday.

There have been some high-scoring games in Caddo with Cyril girls scoring 91 in a win Tuesday and Binger-Oney boys scored 97 Tuesday.

The most interesting game appears to be the 5:15 battle between Fort Cobb-Broxton and Cyril boys, two teams with a long history of dandy battles in the Caddo County Tournament and the playoffs. Cyril beat Lookeba-Sickles, 79-33, Tuesday while Fort Cobb-Broxton beat Carnegie, 78-47, in the quarterfinals.

Stephens County will conduct its championship semifinals today with Comanche and Ryan girls meeting at 4 p.m. The other girls semifinal at 6:40 features Empire and Velma-Alma girls, which beat Marlow girls Monday.

The boys games tonight feature top-seeded Velma-Alma against Central High at 5:20 and Marlow against Comanche at 8 p.m.

For complete schedules of the three county tournaments, see the scoreboard, Page 3B.