The Olathe High School Pirate girls are seeded at No. 18 in the upcoming state tournament, where they will play Brush on March 3. (Joseph Harold/Special to the MDP)
The Olathe High School Pirate girls are seeded at No. 18 in the upcoming state tournament, where they will play Brush on March 3. (Joseph Harold/Special to the MDP)
The Olathe High School girls basketball team didn’t find the results it wanted during the Class 3A Western Slope League district tournament last week, but the players have a chance at redemption during the regional round of the state tournament this weekend.
The Pirates topped Roaring Fork 55-37 during the play-in game on Tuesday, but then lost to North Fork 42-39 during the district tournament at Central High School in Grand Junction, before bouncing back to win the third-place game against Gunnison 34-27.
Now, Olathe is seeded No. 18 in the state tournament and will take on No. 15 Brush during a regional in Centauri on Friday. The game is a rematch — down to the court — of a matchup between Olathe and Brush at Centauri’s tournament early in December. The Beetdiggers won that game 47-32. Game times have not been set, but the winner of that matchup will advance to face the winner of No. 2 Centauri and No. 31 Cedaredge on Saturday.
During the play-in game, the Pirates erupted in the fourth quarter, turning their six-point lead into a blowout. Kiandra Liles paced Olathe with 15 points, while Tyra Gray and Analise Marin had 14 points apiece.
Against North Fork, the Pirates made a furious comeback attempt, ultimately winning the quarter 16-7, but couldn’t quite push past the deficit from earlier in the game. Still, Gray put on a show with 23 points on 4-of-7 shooting from deep.
In the third-place game, the Pirates avenged 63-42 loss from the week prior. Olathe held Gunnison to single digits in each quarter, while Gray paced the offense once again with 10 points.
BOYS BASKETBALL
The Pirates lost their 14th consecutive game and saw their season end during a district play-in loss to Roaring Fork 66-39.
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