The Ridgemont girls and Black Oak boys advanced to the semifinals of the Obion County School System Middle School tournament Thursday night with first round victories.
The fifth-seeded Lady Mustangs pulled a mild upset with a 26-25 truimph over No. 4 BO, while the fourth-seeded Black Oak boys cruised to a 47-34 triumph over No. 5 Lake Road.
Saturday’s tourney semifinals will feature two girls’ games and two boys’ contests in the event, which is being played at Obion County Central.
At 3 p.m., the second-seeded South Fulton girls play No. 3 Hillcrest, followed by a boys’ game pitting Hillcrest (No. 2) against third-seeded Ridgemont.
The top seeds in both the girls’ and boys’ brackets will play later with the No. 1 Lake Road ladies facing Ridgemont at 6 p.m. and the South Fulton boys squaring off against Black Oak at 7:30.
The championship games are scheduled for 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Monday night.
Union City will host the Small School Area Tournament next week with both Tornado teams serving as the No. 1 seeds.
The UC girls will play the winner of the Northview-Halls first round game Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The Tornado boys will face the Three Oaks-Northview survivor on Thursday night at 6 with a finals berth at stake.
First round games will be played at the sites of the higher seeded teams before the semifinals and finals will then be played at Union City High School.
The championship games of both the girls’ and boys’ tourney will be held at 6 and 7:30 p.m., respectively, Saturday, Jan. 26.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Ridgemont 26, BO 25 (G)
R’mont took a 15-11 halftime lead then hung on to beat the Lady Eagles in the first game of the tournament.
BO was within 21-20 heading into the fourth quarter, but both teams scored just five points in the final six minutes of action.
Carly Bramlett and McClay Ferrell led the winning Mustang girls with eight points apiece in the first round matchup.
Trisha Schmidt and Brianna Potter had eight points apiece for Black Oak. Nellina Wooten, the team’s top scorer for the season was held to six points.
Black Oak 47, LR 34 (B)
The Eagles led 11-9 after one, 20-15 at halftime and 33-27 with three periods in the book.
A 14-7 fourth quarter sealed BO’s triumph.
Isaac Darnall led a balanced scoring effort for the victors with 11 points, while Jonathan Davis was good for 10 markers.
Both Tyler Copeland and Chance Basham contributed seven points each to the winning cause.
Darnall and Basham made a pair of 3-pointers apiece and Copeland hit one from behind the arc as well.
Black Oak made 8-of-13 from the charity stripe to secure the victory and move on to Saturday’s semifinal round.
Blake Huggins had a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds for Lake Road.
Collin Terry posted a good stat line in the Generals’ final game with nine points and eight assists, while Thomas Mathis dished out six assists and Mason Davidson had four rebounds.

Published in The Messenger 1.18.13