The seven seniors of the Fair Grove girls’ basketball team played in their last district tournament during the week of February 22nd through the 26th. Districts were held at Fair Grove this year, providing home court advantage to the team. The girls came into the tournament seeded second, only behind Strafford, a team they had recently fallen to in a close game resulting in overtime.
In the first round on Monday, February 22nd, the girls suited up to play the Conway Bears, the seventh seed, at 7:00. Freshman Harley Maxwell led the team in points with 14, and in assists, senior Bailey Weaver led with six. This game resulted in an 86-35 win, sending the team to the second round where they would play the sixth seed, Springfield Catholic, at 8:00 on Wednesday the 24th.
This game was slightly closer than the last, but the girls still pulled out the 63-53 win and moved on to the district championship. Senior Kelli Oplotnik led the team with 16 points and Weaver led once again with four assists.
Rivalry was in the air as Fair Grove and Strafford met once again on Friday the 26th at 6:00 to either advance to the sectional game the following week at Carthage high school or end their winning season in a loss. This game was close once again as the one and two seeds squared off in a battle for the title of the district champion. The Eagles fought hard, but fell short in the end with a 62-72 loss. Senior Casey Baker led the team with 17 points as she played her last high school game.
The girls ended their season 20-8, and will begin off-season training this summer to prepare for next year.