Geronimo girls, Chatty boys top seeds for county

Chattanooga boys and Geronimo girls claimed the No. 1 seeds for the Comanche County Basketball Tournament that begins Monday, Jan. 15 at the Great Plains Coliseum.

Chatty boys are 11-4 after winning three straight games last weekend to claim the title at the Jeff Hart Memorial Invitational that was also played at the Coliseum. The Warriors will meet No. 8 Geronimo at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 16.

On the girls side, Geronimo edged out Walters for the top seed and the Bluejays will meet Fletcher on opening night at 7:10 p.m.

See the full bracket at right.

Chatty boys coach Billy Karr loved the way his team played last week in winning the Hart title. Owen McCoin led the way for the Warriors in the title game with 29 points. Jack Denny also got to double figures with 10 points and four other players scored.

“I think my guys are still buying in when it comes to playing good defense,” Coach Karr said. “These guys play hard and they play together. They have bought into my system and this is a fun group to coach.”

Last year the Warriors were struggling with numbers but now Karr is happy with his depth and effort.

One of the players who has really stepped up is post Michael Paddyacker who was an offensive lineman three years ago at Cache.

“Michael came down here and because he grew up in Faxon, he already knew most of these guys on our team,” Karr said. “He lost weight and is in really good shape now. Last year he got hurt right before the county tournament, so he’s really excited about getting the opportunity to play this year. My guys know how important the county tournament is to many adults who played in it years ago.

“I thought we really dominated Saturday (against Central High) in the Hart Invitational. We also beat a solid Navajo team (in the semifinals). My guys are getting more and more confidence as we enter these important tournament games.”

Behind Chatty in the boys seedings are Sterling at No. 2, Walters at No. 3 and Big Pasture at No. 4. The boys will play on Tuesday, Jan. 16, and Friday, Jan. 19.

On the girls side behind Geronimo are No. 2 Walters, No. 3 is Chattanooga and Sterling girls are No. 4. The girls will play on Monday, Jan. 15, and Thursday, Jan. 18.

There are four games on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of that week and there will be six games on Saturday, Jan. 20. The schedule on that Saturday starts at 10:30 a.m. with the fifth-place girls game and at Noon the boys fifth-place game will be played at Noon. The girls third-place game begins at 1:30 p.m. and the boys third-place game starts at 3 p.m. The girls championship is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the boys title game will be played at 7:30 p.m.