In the thirtieth season since the opening of Paris Gymnasium, any of those previous 30 years would have to dig deep to find a week of basketball that was better than the last week when it played host to the 3A-4 district tournament. All of the teams played hard and competed well, and in the end, the large crowds that attended throughout the week were treated to great high school basketball. New conference champions and runner-ups were crowned, and a new contingent of teams were tabbed to represent the district in next week’s regional tournament that will be hosted by West Fork High School.
In the first game of Championship Friday, the top-seeded Cossatot River Lady Eagles were matched against the three seed Paris Lady Eagles. Paris, playing on its home floor, was the visiting team for the game. Both previous regular season games were close with Cossatot River having won both at home and in Paris. But both were very competitive, and the expectation going into this game was that it would be another close game. And both teams did not disappoint.
Paris maintained a small lead for much of the first half, but the well-coached and determined Cossatot Lady Eagles fought their way back to take the lead at the buzzer just before the half.
In the second half, it was a game that resembled a heavy weight fight between two good teams. Both teams left everything they had on the court, and in the end, Paris missed a last second shot that would have won the game. A gallant Paris effort had fallen just short, and Cossatot won the championship and will move on to the regionals as a top seed. The final score was 50-48.
In the boys championship final, the game featured two teams that had turned their regular seasons around and were playing great basketball going into the district tournament. Cossatot River, who spent time in the middle of the conference standings, was coming on strong and had upset the tournament’s top seed, Charleston, in the semifinals. The Booneville Bearcats, featuring a very young but talented team, had been on the same road as Cossatot, but were playing great basketball at the right time. The Bearcats defeated the tournament’s number two seed, Paris, in the semifinals.
So the stage was set for an exciting boys final, but, it did not turnout that way. Booneville’s talented young players quickly took control of the game, seemingly scoring at well on drives to the basket, jumped out to a double-digit lead for much of the game. Cossatot fought back with everything they had, and pulled within eight points late, but it was not enough. Booneville defeated Cossatot by the score of 80-67 for the tournament championship.
The Booneville Bearcats, who had experienced large deficit losses early in the season, had improved dramatically over the past month of the season, and are now district tournament champions and will be the top seed from the district in next week’s regional tournament.
So the regional teams from 3A-4 are set and will move on to play for a state tournament berth the following week. The 3A-4 teams going to the regionals are:
3A-4 GIRLS
Cossatot River, #1 Seed
Paris, #2 Seed
Booneville, #3 Seed
Hackett, #4 Seed
3A-4 BOYS
Booneville, #1 Seed
Cossatot River, #2 Seed
Charleston, #3 Seed
Paris, #4 Seed
RNN Sports will have a regional tournament preview on Tuesday evening. Watch for this story on social media and on our website at residentnewsnetwork.com
And watch for more photos from the 3A-4 tournament this week on Facebook at Paris Eagles Sports!
All of us at RNN Sports wish all of the 3A-4 regional teams the best of luck next week in their drive to advance to the state tournament! And….RNN Sports will be there to bring you all of the action!
