Lady Tigers primed for state-tourney breakthrough

The Nevada Lady Tigers are all smiles after notching their third consecutive district crown, March 5 in Harrisonville.

Submitted photo

The Nevada Lady Tigers have been playing their best basketball of the season of late, as they head into tonight's Class 4 State sectional hoops clash with Grain Valley.

Nevada (23-4) is looking for more, having been eliminated the previous two seasons in the Class 4 sectional-round. Grain Valley (19-7) enters the matchup fresh off a district championship victory over Kansas Center, an opponent Nevada also recently defeated.

In their regular-season finale (Feb. 27) in Kansas City, the Lady Tigers throttled Center, 54-34. Grain Valley, meanwhile, knocked off Center, 58-39. The two schools have two other common opponents. Nevada defeated Grandview in the Class 4 district 13 title game, 65-44 — while Grain Valley upended Grandview on Feb. 14 at home, 67-57. Grain Valley and Grandview also matched up on Feb. 3 in Grandview, with Grandview eking out a 40-39 victory.

Both teams also clashed with Smith-Cotton High School. Nevada steamrolled Smith-Cotton on the road (Feb. 21), 66-34 — while Grain Valley prevailed over Smith-Cotton in an early-season home-matchup (Dec. 2), 54-48.

Tip off for tonight's game is slated for 6 p.m. at Lee's Summit High School.