Tigers' magical seasons in basketball and soccer end one game short of Central Section championship games

Lemoore’s Chase Garcia scored to Tigers’ only goal in the first period against Madera South, but he and his teammates couldn’t overcome a pair of Madera goals in the opening stanza and one more in the second period. Madera South will host Tulare Union in the Division 3 championship on Friday in Madera.

The Tiger soccer team finished at 16-6-2  on the season after finishing 8-2 in the West Yosemite League.

The Tigers’ hoopsters were 19-7 on the year, including a 9-1 WYL title run.

It was the three-point shooting that finally ended Lemoore’s season. San Luis Obispo’s Addason Wright had perhaps the game of his life, connecting on nine 3-pointers, five of them coming in the third quarter, to guide his team to the championship game. Wright finished with 27 points.

“They were down,” said Tiger Coach Joel Sligh. “We played a good game. The got a lot of “threes” to put themselves ahead and to hold on to that lead.”

Lemoore held a 10-point lead early in the game and scored 30 points in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the San Luis Obispo team.