The Lion varsity basketball team got off to a late but successful start last week, defeating the visiting Abilene Hawks. The Lions have had a week-long break for Christmas, returning to the court on Friday at the Windthorst Tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs brought home their second win of the season on Friday, Dec. 14 with a 26-23 victory over the visiting Throckmorton Lady Greyhounds. The high school girls were off a week for Christmas, but are back on the court at the Dec.27-29 Munday Tournament.

The end to what was one of the best comeback seasons ever, the Lion football team was stopped by the Gruver Greyhounds just one step away from a storybook ending of reaching the state championship game last Thursday.

The Lion football team dominated the District 7-2A selection announced this week, including receiving the majority of the superlative honors. Senior Cutter Edgar was named the district’s MVP, while senior Cameron Dacus was picked as the Offensive MVP and senior Ryan Hill was the Defensive MVP.

The Lady Lions earned a pair of wins last week and hosted Goldthwaite on Tuesday as they head into the Christmas break. Albany dropped to 10-7 with a close 36-29 loss to the state-ranked Goldthwaite Lady Eagles on Dec. 18. Details were not available at press time but will be reported next week.

Both Albany Cubs basketball teams won two out of three games at the Breckenridge tournament last Saturday, then they split games with the Abilene Hawks on Monday. The Cubs will be off for the Christmas break until Jan. 10 when they will host Hawley.

The Lion basketball season finally got underway on Tuesday, after being on hold for several weeks while many of the players were involved in the football playoffs. The varsity took the court against the Abilene Hawks, posting a 67-52 win in their first outing.

The last couple of weeks were tough ones for the Moran basketball teams, with several losses reported and only one win.

Overcoming an 0-5 start in what may be the worst pre-district record of any team to make it to the fifth round of the playoffs, the Lions are now among the final four Class 2A Div. II teams left standing as they head into the state semifinal game on Thursday.

The JV Lion basketball team hosted a 16-team tournament last week, but games on Saturday were called due to the threat of icy weather. The teams competed on Thursday, but didn’t come back for the second day of games on Saturday.