Chatty, Cyril, Chatty girls advance in playoffs

There are different ways to win basketball games and when Bo Thomason took over the Chattanooga girls program one thing he stressed from the outset was defense and the Warriors showed how they’ve improved in that area in limiting Asher all night while advancing in the Class B regional with a 38-24 victory.

Asher was held to single digits in all four quarters and while the Warriors weren’t building a big lead, they had the lead and when they exploded for an 18-4 edge in the fourth quarter the visitors weren’t able to counter.

The Chatty girls will be at home Saturday at 6 p.m. to face Mt. View-Gotebo in the regional title game. The winner of that contest advances to the Class B Area finals next week with a State berth on the line.

Later Thursday night the Chatty boys were unable to fight back from a big deficit against Asher and were knocked into the consolation bracket after a 59-49 setback. The Warriors got 23 points from Jackson Franks but they were unable to get big stops down the stretch as Asher held on the for victory.

The Chatty boys return to the Warriors’ Gym today to face Mt. View-Gotebo in a big matchup of solid area teams at 2:30 p.m. The night boys consolation contest includes another area team, Big Pasture, which beat Wapunucka and will face Ryan at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

The girls game at Chatty was tight all the way, in fact it was tied at 20-all heading into the final eight minutes. But during that quarter the Chatty girls were able to get the ball inside and as a result they made 10-of-14 free throws to save the victory before a big crowd at the Chatty Gym.

The Lady Warriors spread the offense around with Timber Givens and Rayleigh Garrett each scoring nine to lead the way.

The area’s most explosive Class A girls team has been Cyril and the Lady Pirates coasted to a 65-49 victory over Sentinel last night at the Cyril Gym.

In consolation games Thursday afternoon the Sterling girls stayed alive with a 45-37 victory over Snyder but the Sterling boys were eliminated by Ninnekah, 78-69.

Defending Class B boys powerhouse Fort Cobb-Broxton coasted to an 87-37 victory over Caney and moved into Saturday’s title game against Granite at Alex High School. The winner of that key game moves into the Area title game a week from today and a win there would punch another State ticket for the Mustangs.

Geronimo girls took that same step Thursday, beating Wilson, 54-44, to advance to the finals of the Class B regional that will be played Saturday at Roff High School.