Big Sky Basketball heads to State Tournament

The Big Sky District Tournament was held in The Dalles last weekend at Kurtz Gym with the top three teams assured a spot in the state playoffs.

In boys basketball, the Dufur Rangers have been unstoppable this year. The Rangers are 21-2 overall and 14-0 in the league.

The Condon Blue Devils gave the Rangers a run for their money and played them as tough as anybody (with the exception of Sherman Co. who lost to Dufur in overtime earlier this month).

After beating the Blue Devils on Friday, Dufur defeated Sherman Co. for the league championship on Saturday.

After getting battered by Sherman County on Friday, the Wheeler County Rattlers (combined team of Fossil, Spray, and Mitchell) bounced back and beat the Condon Blue Devils by two points, 38-36.

This assured the top three teams: Dufur, Sherman Co., and Wheeler County a spot in the state playoffs.

Condon was selected as one of eight at-large teams to make the state tournament, based on overall rankings from the OSAA. Condon traveled to North Douglas near Eugene on Tuesday.

Wheeler County took the trip to Molalla to take on Country Christian on Tuesday, while Sherman County hosted Damascus Christian and Dufur hosted Triangle Lake.

In girls basketball, the Wheeler County Rattlers secured the second place finish at the Big Sky District Tournament. The Lady Rattlers beat Trout Lake in a close game, 57-53 before falling to South Wasco County in the Big Sky Championship game 36-48.

Still, the tournament capped an exciting year for the Lady Rattlers, who drew the #3 ranked Jordan Valley team in the first round of the state playoffs.

The Ione/Arlington team finished fourth in the Big Sky and lost both games in the league playoffs – first to South Wasco on February 16 and then to Trout Lake on the 17th. But the team drew an at-large bid and will take on Imbler on Saturday at 6:30 PM.

Congratulations to all the teams in the Big Sky for a solid year and good luck to those who are going on to state.