Cyril, Geronimo girls claim regional titles

Cyril girls have been on an impressive run this season with a 20-4 record and Saturday night they rolled to a 63-36 victory over Cheyenne-Arapaho to move within one victory of punching their ticket to the State Tournament.

The Lady Pirates will head to Chickasha High School Friday night to face Allen in the Area Tournament title game with the winner heading to State. That game will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday.

There are several other area teams in the same position including Empire girls in Class A and Geronimo and Mt. View-Gotebo in Class B girls.

The big surprise came in a Class B Regional at Alex where Granite upset defending Class B State champion Fort Cobb-Broxton boys, 54-48. The Mustangs were down by double digits but rallied and fought back to make it tight but could not pull in front at the end.

Empire played a strong defensive game in beating Caddo, 41-38, Saturday in a Class A Regional at Velma-Alma.

Geronimo girls used a late surge to finally put away Buffalo Valley, 51-40, in a Class B regional at Roff. The Bluejays have lost just one game this season while winning 28 and that lone loss was to Mt. View-Gotebo which beat Chattanooga, 42-23, Saturday in a Class B regional at Chattanooga.

Those two won’t meet again until State because they are in different Area Tournaments. The Tigers will meet Lookeba-Sickles in an Area Tournament at Bridge Creek with that meeting coming Friday at 6 p.m.

While those teams have advanced as regional winners, other teams moved to the Area round with victories Saturday afternoon and one of the most exciting games was at Chattanooga where the Warriors edged Ryan, 61-60, holding on for a tense victory before a huge crowd.

Cooper Loftin led Chatty with 19 and Jackson Franks added 11 more as the Warriors advanced to the Area Tournament with a 7:30 p.m. game Thursday at Bridge Creek High School.

Chatty boys jumped out to an early 23-8 lead after one quarter but Ryan dominated the second quarter, 22-10, and the Warriors’ lead at halftime was down to three. Both teams had chances at the free throw line but each converted 14 and in the end the Warriors had one more three-point goal and that was the difference.

The Chatty girls were unable to muster much offense against the Tigers’ tough defense. Madelynn Burns led Chatty with 16 points but just two other Warriors scored and on this night that wasn’t enough balance to advance in the winner’s bracket.

One other area team will join the Chatty boys as consolation survivors as the Fort Cobb-Broxton girls advanced with a 48-32 victory over Alex during the afternoon session at the Longhorns’ Gym.