Prairie City's Brooke Teel (23) looks for an open teammate Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, during the Lady Panthers' game against Damascus Christian.

The Prairie City boys and girls basketball teams ended their state playoff runs last week.

Both squads qualified for postseason play by finishing third in the season-ending 1A-8 High Desert League tournament held at Grant Union High School.

After downing Rogue Valley Adventist Academy 31-24 Wednesday, Feb. 23, in their first playoff game, the girls fell to Damascus Christian 37-46 Saturday, Feb. 26.

The Lady Panthers held their own against Damascus, the only team in the state to beat the top-ranked Crane Mustangs all season.

In the third quarter, Damascus outscored the Lady Panthers 13-1; up until then, Prairie City head coach Bo Workman said, the girls squad was in the game. At the close of the first half, the score was knotted up at 23 apiece.

“We played really well,” Workman said. “We’re one of the top 10 teams in the state. But things just did not go our way.”

Workman added that in the fourth quarter, his squad outscored Damascus 13-10. He said the ball just did not fall for the Lady Panthers in the third.

Team captain Betty Ann Wilson, who led the team’s offense with 20 points on five three-pointers, one two-point field goal and three free throws, said the squad was really feeling the ups and downs of winning the first-round game and then losing the second-round match.

“We all felt the emotions, but to make it that far was just … we were just proud of ourselves for just that,” Wilson said. “We know that we will be back in (the playoffs) next year.”

Kaitlynne Ashley, a junior who scored 11 points on four two-point goals and three free throws, agreed with Wilson’s sentiment.

“It was a tough game,” Ashley said. “We fought until the end.”

Wilson pointed out that the Lady Panthers play in one of the toughest leagues in the state.

The girls squad finished the season 14-11 overall and went 7-5 in league play.

Prairie City boys

After the boys team bested Jordan Valley 67-51 in the High Desert League tourney, the Panthers were beaten by Trinity Lutheran 63-55 on Tuesday, Feb. 22, in the first round of the playoffs.

Eli Wright, who scored 19 points on nine two-point field goals and a free throw, said the team did many good things in the game but ultimately turned the ball over too many times.

One of the team’s two seniors, Marcus Judd, who scored 10 points on five two-point field goals, concurred with Wright that it was not their best game.

Judd added that it was hard playing the final basketball game of his high school career.

“I didn’t want it to be over,” Judd said. “I love to play basketball. I always have.”

For his part, senior John Titus, who had five points in the contest on a two-point field goal and a three-pointer, said he was excited to get in and play the final basketball game of his career.

“I wanted to go in there and do well,” Titus said. “I feel like for it being the last game, it was a decent game, and we had a good season, so I’m good with it.”

Overall, the Panthers finished the season with a 16-10 record and were 8-6 in league play.