The Gore Pirates won the Class A District Tournament with a 46-42 win over the host Quinton Savages on Saturday night at Quinton Event Center.
The Pirates (18-6) will meet fellow Riverside Conference foe Okay in the Class A Regional Tournament semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Okmulgee, with the winner not only advancing to the regional finals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Okmulgee but also automatically earning a spot in next week’s area tournament in Stroud regardless of the outcome.
However, if the Pirates lose to the Mustangs, Gore will meet the winner of Thursday afternoon’s Depew-Hominy game at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Okmulgee in the regional consolation semifinals, with the winner playing for the regional consolation championship and a trip to the area tournament at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Okmulgee.
Unfortunately, the season ended for the Gore Lady Pirates with a 42-39 loss to Davenport in Friday night’s elimination game in the Class A District Tournament in Quinton.
Both Gore teams ended the regular season with a Riverside Conference road sweep over the Gans squads on Feb. 10 at Bryant “Big Country” Reeves Fieldhouse as the Lady Pirates downed the Lady Grizzlies 51-26 and the Pirates defeated the Grizzlies 42-25.
In the boys’ district finals, the Pirates doubled up the Savages 10-5 in the opening period, but the Savages used a 1412 second quarter to cut the deficit to 22-19 at halftime. However, the Pirates used a 13-6 third quarter to up their advantage to 35-25 going into the final period.
For the game, Tate Brooksher scored a game-high 14 points and Keeton Rowe added 11 points to lead Gore, followed by Cain Cooper and Duane Hunt with eight points each, Nash Thouvenel with three points and Ayden Cox with two points.
In the girls’ seasonending loss to Davenport, the Lady Pirates (8-13) trailed 14-5 after a quarter but used a 16-6 second period to to take a 21-20 lead at the half. However, the Lady Bulldogs used a 15-8 third quarter to take a 35-29 lead into the final period. The Lady Pirates outscored the Lady Bulldogs 10-7 in the fourth quarter, but their rally fell short — and their season came to an end.
In defeat, Kennedy Williams scored a gamehigh 13 points and Ricki Huckbay added 10 points to lead Gore, followed by Emily Daily with six points, Rayleigh Moore and River Shoemake with four points each and CoCo Carter with two points.
In the boys’ win over Gans, the Pirates (7-1 in Riverside Conference play) scored the game’s first 12 points en route to a 14-3 lead after the first eight minutes.
After the Grizzlies cut their deficit to 14-9 with 6:53 left before halftime, they were blanked the rest of the second period by the Pirates, whose first-half ending 15-0 run put them ahead 29-9 at halftime.
Gore’s lead got to as great as 22 points at 38-16 with 6:23 left to play in the game on a 3-pointer by Eli Munson.
For the game, Rowe led Gore with nine points, followed by Cooper with eight points, Thouvenel with seven points, Munson with six points and Brooksher and Logan Markou with four points apiece.
In the girls’ victory over Gans, the Lady Pirates (5-3 in Riverside Conference play) broke a 4-all tie by ending the first quarter with a 7-0 run to take an 11-4 lead after a period. Gore doubled Gans 12-6 in the second period to up the Lady Pirates’ halftime advantage to 2310. The lead got as great as 29 points at 51-22 on a pair of Williams free throws with 3:05 left to play in the game.
For the contest, Williams led all scorers with a game-high 19 points to lead Gore, followed by Daily and Huckbay with eight points each, Shoemake with seven points, Lily Wooten with three points and Moore, Carter and Sophie O’Connor with two points apiece.
Gore Alumni Game Slated Friday Night The 2025 Gore Alumni Basketball Game will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Gore Lower Elementary School Gym.
The player fee is $10 per person, with the entry fee for non-players at $3 per person.
The match-up will put the even-numbered year graduates against the odd-numbered year graduates.
For those interested or for additional information, e-mail april.smith@gorepublicschools.org or trobbins@gorepublicschools. org.
at Quinton.