The Dale High School basketball teams for the second consecutive year are headed to the Class 2A state tournament that opens play today (Thursday).
The teams play at different venues and at different times.
Coach Eric Smith’s Lady Pirates square off against Latta at 2 p.m. in a contest at Mustang High School.
It’s the fourth time this season will they will meet each other. Dale has won two of the three previous meetings.
The Pirates of Coach Jeff Edmonson face Pawnee in a game scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. at Yukon High School.
The Lady Pirates punched their way to the state tourney Saturday night when they defeated Allen 67-31 in Area tournament action. They had lost to Vanoss the previous evening 73-65 in overtime.
The Pirates nipped Talihina 42-40 as time was running out when junior Ike Shirey drained a three-pointer.
Shirey was the lone Pirate in double figures as he scored 16 points. Dallen Forysthe added 8, Palmer Jones 7, Trae Thompson 6 and Carter Crowe 5 for the Pirates.
They jumped out to a 14-7 lead after one quarter, but only scored two points in the second period and trailed by six, 22-16 at the break. The Pirates outscored Talihina 26 to 18 in the final two quarters for the victory and a berth in the state tourney.
After the Lady Pirates had suffered the overtime loss to Vanoss the night before, they rebounded to clobber Allen to gain a spot in the state tournament.
Leading the Lady Pirates in scoring were Jacie McClure with 17 points and Danyn Lang with 13.
Lang poured in 30 points in the OT loss to Vanoss and Elaine Witt had 10.