By Brad Ziegler
The high school basketball season has come to a close for south Kansas City area schools as the Missouri state championship tournaments for both the girls’ and boys’ teams advance to the final games in all classes without an area representative.
Boys teams from Rockhurst and Barstow both won their District championships in their respective classes and advanced to state championship tournament play. Rockhurst defeated Lee’s Summit North in double overtime to win the Class 6 District 6 title before falling to Springfield Central in the state quarterfinal game 58-48, finishing 20-8 for the season.
Barstow defeated Center in the Class 4 District 14 title game, 52-14, before falling to St. Michael the Archangel in the state quarterfinal game 52-34. Barstow finished 21-8 for the season. Center finished 15-12.
Grandview advanced to the Class 5 District 7 title game but lost to Raytown in double overtime 65-63. The Bulldogs finished 23-5.
Ruskin, Lutheran and Belton all lost in the first round of district play finishing 8-17, 13-11 and 9-18 respectively.
On the girls’ side, Notre Dame de Sion won the Class 4 District 13 title, defeating Nevada 45-37. The Storm fell in their state quarterfinal matchup against Chillicothe 62-38 and finished 16-11 for the season.
Grandview lost to St. Teresa’s in the second round of Class 5 District 7 play 50-45 and finished their season 20-6.
Barstow finished 7-15 in their first year after restarting their program this season, falling 51-30 in their Class 2 District 15 first round game against West Platte.
Lutheran lost their first round Class 2 District 15 game against Plattsburg 41-25, finishing 11-15 for the season. Belton, Center and Ruskin also lost first round District Tournament games, finishing 9-14, 8-18 and 4-20 respectively.