Lady Tigers earn spot in basketball playoffs despite dropping season finale. Girls' playoff opener at home Wednesday

The No. 8 ranked Division 3 Lady Tigers will open the playoffs at home Wednesday night (Feb. 19) against Fresno High School. The winner of the 7 p.m. game will play the winner of the Porterville (No. 1) and St. Joseph (No. 16) game on Friday, Feb. 21. 

Lemoore’s girls, while putting together a solid 7-3 West Yosemite League campaign, suffered two of its three league losses at the hands of a powerful Hanford (20-8 overall and 10-0 in the WYL) team. The Lemoore Lady Tigers fell 79-52 to the powerful Lady Bullpups in the league’s final game Thursday night in Hanford.

The Lemoore Lady Tigers (16-11) will find out soon whom they will face as the Division 3 playoffs begin next week.

Lemoore’s boys’ team, which struggled for much of the season, came within a game of making the playoffs, but they couldn’t get past Hanford Thursday night in the Lemoore High School Event Center, losing in a nail biter, 65-64 – despite a strong second-half comeback.

Lemoore's Samuel Martinez takes a shot against Hanford in the Tigers' loss Thursday night in the Lemoore Event Center.

Photo by Bill Burris, Lemooresports.com

It was on January 29, in their first West Yosemite League basketball matchup with Hanford, that Lemoore’s players eased into the Bullpups’ gym and left that night feeling reasonably good about themselves, emerging with a convincing 77-68 victory.

Unfortunately, the Tigers couldn’t repeat their earlier success at home, despite playing the finale in their home gym.

The loss completed a disappointing season for Lemoore, as the Tigers finished the season at 8-19 and 4-6 in the WYL, effectively dropping them out of the 2020 playoffs.

Meantime Hanford held off a late charge from the Tigers Thursday night to finish 13-13 overall but managed to fashion a solid 7-3 mark in WYL play to earn a trip to the Central Section Division 2 playoffs.

The Tigers led early, fashioning a 15-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Bullpups got hot from the field, outscoring Lemoore 27-17. They outlasted the Tigers 13-11 in the third to take a commanding 53-44 lead going into the final quarter.

The Tigers fought back, scoring 21 points in the final stanza, but it just wasn’t enough.