The Plainview Lady Pirates captured victories over Chambers-Wheeler Central and Stuart on Tuesday, Feb. 13 and Thursday, Feb. 15 in the class D2 Subdistrict 7 tournament to keep their season going for the first chance at a State berth in a few decades.
The Lady Pirates earned a victory over CWC on Tuesday, Feb. 13 in dominating fashion to advance to the D2 Subdistrict 7 Championship against the Stuart Broncos, 63-35. In the D2 Subdistrict 7 Championship, the Lady Pirates showed dominance once again, defeating the Broncos by a significant margin, 58-33, to earn their spot in the D2-7 District Final. Thanks to their two victories, the Pirates have earned the seventh-seed out of the remaining 16 teams in Class D2.
This puts the Lady Pirates up against the Falcons of Wilcox-Hildreth in the D2-7 District Final with a trip to the NSAA Girls State Basketball Tournament on the line, with a game in Central City this Friday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m.
Vs. Stuart
In their most recent contest, the Lady Pirates faced off against the Stuart Broncos for the D2 Subdistrict 7 championship in front of their home crowd. The Pirates came in as the one seed with a much better record, which made them the heavy favorites on paper. Despite all of the pressure that comes with being a successful basketball team, the Lady Pirates did not disappoint.
In the first quarter, the Pirates were able to set the tone with a dominant performance offensively. Plainview found good shots and forced the Broncos into some uncomfortable situations to rapidly grow their lead to 17-5 at the end of the first.
The Pirates had struggles in the second quarter. After such a hot start, the Pirates were only able to watch a couple of shots go in the entire quarter. Luckily, their large lead and defense allowed the struggles to not be a game-changer, as the Broncos only outscored the Lady Pirates by two in the quarter, which gave Plainview a relatively comfortable 22-12 lead at the half.
Despite their struggles to end the first half, the Lady Pirates came out swinging in the third quarter. The Broncos finally got their offense going, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Pirates high-tempo offense, as the Pirates outscored the Broncos 24- 14 in the third to grow their lead to 20. This put the Broncos just one quarter away from advancing to a district championship game.
In the fourth, the Pirates were able to do their job and finish things off. The Broncos gave their best effort, but it wouldn’t be enough to make a comeback against the Pirates impeccable defense, which held the Broncos under ten points in three of the four quarters of play. With a dominant fourth quarter performance, the Lady Pirates earned a 58-33 win to advance to the Class D2-7 District Final against Wilcox- Hildreth.
Abbie Kromarek led the way for the Pirates in their lopsided victory against the Broncos with 24 points, followed by Teya Boyer with 11, Marque Albin with eight, Madelynn Dougherty with five, Brooke Rafert with four, and the duo of Kenzie Doerr and Addie Hodson with two each.
Vs CWC
In their first contest of the week, the Plainview Lady Pirates kicked off the postseason against the CWC Renegades in the NSAA Class D2 Subdistrict 7 tournament held in Plainview. The Pirates entered the tournament as the subdistricts one seed, making them the favorite in their first-round matchup against the seven-win Renegades.
The contest began heavily in favor of the Pirates as the squad jumped out to a big 14-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. As the Pirates defense controlled the tempo of the game, Plainview continued to grow their lead in the second quarter by outscoring the Renegades 16- 7, which grew their lead to 21 points at the half.
With an already commanding lead, the Pirates relaxed a little on the defensive end but kept their
foot on the gas offensively. Despite the Renegades putting up an impressive 17 points in the quarter, the Pirates were able to stay one step ahead, and dropped 18 points to grow their lead by one as the game went into the fourth quarter.
With the game seemingly already on ice, the Lady Pirates put the nail in the coffin by outscoring
the Renegades by eight in the fourth quarter to earn the 63-35 victory, which kept their season alive.
Boyer led the way for the Pirates with 27 points in their victory, followed by Kromarek with eight, Dougherty with five, and Reece Frahm, Doerr, Rafert, and Avery Hardisty each with two.
