Girls are district champs

The Lady Dragon basketball team earned the right to host this weekend’s regional tournament after winning the district championship in Sterling on Saturday.

As the No. 1 district seed, Holyoke got a bye in the first round of districts Tuesday, Feb. 22. The girls defeated No. 4 Wray 60-43 in the semifinals at Northeastern Junior College on Friday, Feb. 25. The following day, a large crowd of green and gold fans cheered them on to a 54-40 win over No. 6 Wiggins in the championship.

“To get another district championship feels good,” said coach John Baumgartner, especially since the Lady Dragons didn’t have a normal post-season experience last year due to pandemic limitations.

Some upsets in last week’s tournament proved that anything can happen in a competitive district. “If you don’t bring your A game, you’re going to get beat,” said Baumgartner.

In Tuesday’s first round, No. 4 Wray beat No. 5 Akron, No. 6 Wiggins upset No. 3 Sedgwick County and No. 7 Burlington upset No. 2 Yuma.

Wray claimed third place after defeating Burlington on Saturday.

The top three teams from each of the eight district tournaments automatically qualified for 2A regionals Friday-Saturday, March 4-5. The remaining eight teams in the 32-team regional bracket were determined by RPI.

Holyoke’s district is sending an uprecedented seven teams to regionals. The Lady Dragons have the No. 2 seed, followed by No. 9 Sedgwick County, No. 13 Wiggins, No. 14 Wray, No. 16 Akron, No. 21 Yuma and No. 32 Burlington.

At Holyoke JR/SR High School on Friday, March 4, No. 2 Holyoke will play No. 31 Dolores Huerta Prep at 5 p.m.

Dragon fans are also invited to stick around for a showing of the Holyoke boys game against Byers in Sanford, which will be played on the screen in the Holyoke JR/SR High auditorium at 6:30 p.m.

Also on Friday in Holyoke’s gym, the girls regional tournament will continue with No. 15 Swink vs. No. 18 Denver Christian at 6:30 p.m.

On Saturday, the winners of the two girls games will play in the championship at 1 p.m. in Holyoke. The winner will advance to the state tournament March 10-12 in Loveland.

“These girls have set their goals high,” said Baumgartner, who’s looking for two more wins this weekend.

Lady Dragons get the job done Friday

Baumgartner commended the Holyoke girls for their attitude in Friday’s district semifinal game against Wray. “We just stay the course,” he said, noting they never get too high or too low emotionally.

Holyoke led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter. The second was a high scoring period for both teams, but Holyoke edged Wray 17-16 for the quarter.

Baumgartner said he would have liked to see them widen the gap a bit more in the first half, but there were some missed free throws in the second quarter.

Holyoke kept its lead with a 42-33 advantage heading into the final quarter. The Lady Dragons put up another 18 compared to Wray’s 10 in the fourth to win 60-43.

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