This past week, the Acorn senior girls and senior boys basketball teams competed in the 1A 7 West District Basketball Tournament, hosted at Mount Ida High School.
Following a first round bye and a semi-finals win over Dierks (68-24), the Lady Tigers moved onto the girls championship game against Kirby, who had wins over Umpire and Mount Ida.
In a very low scoring first quarter, Acorn outscored the Lady Trojans 7-4, to take a three point lead into the second. Both offenses came alive in the second, as Kirby narrowly outscored the Lady Tigers 17-13, to gain the lead by one at halftime, 21-20.
At halftime, Joce Mount led the Lady Trojans with 8 points, while Makayla Anderson led Acorn with 6 points.
In a close knit and lead changing accruing third quarter, the Lady Tigers were able to grab a one point lead at the end of the quarter, to take a 36-35 lead into the fourth. Acorn was able to grab up to a six point lead in the final quarter of play, but thanks to a few free throws by the Lady Trojans, Kirby was back within one point, with forty-seven seconds left in the game. After a missed one-and-one opportunity by the Lady Tigers, Gracen Smith of Kirby was fouled with 6.1 seconds left in the game. Smith made both of her free throws to give the Lady Trojans a one point, 48-47, lead. With the remaining 6.1 seconds, Sophie Jackson drove the length of the court, but missed the last second shot, to make the final score 48-47, in favor of Kirby.
Joce Mount led the Kirby Lady Trojans with 15 points, as Gracen Smith added on 14 points of her own, Jones 9 points, Harmen 6 points, and Reid and Davis 2 points each.
Tori Barrett, Makayla Anderson, and Sophie Jackson all led the Acorn Lady Tigers with 11 points each, while Faith Hill scored 10 points, and Sydney Crawford 4 points.
For the finale of the night, the Acorn senior boys took on the Kirby Trojans in the boys championship game.
The Tigers scored the first bucket of the game, and went on to outscore Kirby 12-9 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Trojans took their first lead with 6:45 left in the quarter and didn’t look back at all. Kirby went on to outscore the Tigers 27-9, to take a fourteen point, 35-21, lead into halftime.
Carson Smith and Gaither led the Trojans with 12 points each at halftime, while Jeremiah Saint led Acorn with 9 points.
In the third quarter, the Trojans continued to extend their lead to twenty-six, by outscoring Acorn 28-16, to take a 63-37 lead into the fourth and final quarter of play. The Tigers were held to only two points in the fourth, as Kirby scored thirteen points of their own, to make the final score 76-39.
Cimino led the Kirby Trojans with 26 points on the night, as Carson Smith added on 19 points, Gaither 14 points, Johnson 7 points, Garrett 4 points, and Tyler Bates and Franks 3 points each.
Jeremiah Swint led the Acorn Tigers with 14 points, while Cross Hughes scored 12 points of his own, Zak Abbott 7 points, Leo Jacinto 4 points, and Jack Young 2 points.
This week, on Thursday, February 22nd, both the Acorn Lady Tigers and Tigers will compete in the 1A Region 4 Basketball Tournament at Dierks High School. The Lady Tigers will take on St. Paul at 7:00pm, and the Acorn senior boys will follow against Hartford at 8:30pm.
About Author
Jeri Pearson
Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.
More Stories
Polk County Sheriff’s Log
Jingle Bell Rock 2023
Polk County Pulse – September 27, 2023