Area Basketball

Atlanta
After closing out the regular season with a, 63-55, win over Paris on Feb. 7, the Lady Rabbits opened its playoff run with a, 56-52, bi-district win over Canton on Feb. 13.
Canton closed out the first quarter with a, 19-18, lead and the Lady Rabbs found themselves down, 36-31, at the break.
Atlanta closed the third quarter down, 47-43, and used a 13-5 run in the fourth quarter to bounce the Lady Eagles out of the playoffs.
Keyona Easter posted 24 points with seven rebounds and four steals; Kaydee Kelly added 14 points with four treys; Sheveonia Smith posted 13 points with four assists and four steals and Kinsey Kelly grabbed seven boards.
On Feb. 17, the Lady Rabbs paired with arguably the toughest team in East Texas when they met Tatum in the second round of the playoffs at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall.
Tatum brought an array of talent, a No. 3 state ranking and a 31-0 record to the bout, but Atlanta never rolled over during the contest.
The Lady Rabbs fell behind 11-0 early and was down, 27-14, after one quarter of play but a 23-14 run by Atlanta cut the Lady eagles’ lead to, 41-37, at the break.
Turnovers in the second half were key as the Lady Eagles took advantage and went on a 47-25 run in the second half to claim an, 88-62, win.
Smith had a team-high 27 points, Sheppard had 12 points and 14 boards, Easter added 12 points, Kinsey Kelly had six points, Kaydee Kelly three and Brittany Collins two.
Queen City
On Feb. 17, Queen City met up with District 14-3A rival New Boston for the third time this season. The game was played at Texas High for second and third seed.
New Boston claimed game one, 70-53, back on Jan. 3, and QC beat the Lions, 59-49, on Jan. 27, so a third meeting was imminent as both teams finished the regular season with identical 10-4 records.
The atmosphere was that of a playoff basketball game and not a seeding game as the Bulldogs went on to win, 63-56, in a back-and-forth game.
New Boston came out with a hard press defense which frustrated the Bulldogs into an, 11-1, deficit before Tyler Nolen hit a buzzer-beating trey off the backboard to cut the score to, 11-4.
QC finally caught fire as Easton Fincher and Nolen hit back-to-back three pointers to pull the Bulldogs within one at, 11-10.
The lead bounced back-and-forth before the break, but a late run by the Lions knotted the score at 23-all going into halftime.
New Boston battled QC to a 17-14 advantage in the third quarter which brought the score to, 40-37, going into the final frame.
Queen City outscored the Lions 26-16 down the stretch to seal the win. Clutch free throw shooting by the Bulldogs helped as well.
With the victory QC was paired with Prairiland in bi-district playoff action at Mount Pleasant.
Alex Carver had 19 points with two treys, Nolen added 18 with three treys, Austin Lowe posted eight points, Josh Henry had six, Dexter Burrow five and Fincher three.