It was a battle of unranked teams for the area title in 4A Region 1 between Iowa Park (11-17, 3-5), a 3rd seed out of District 5-4A, and Kennedale (23-12, 9-1), a 1st seed out of District 7-4A. On paper this was a mismatch but Iowa Park came into the game pumped after an upset win over Mineral Wells (21-14, 5-3) with a thrilling half court basket buzzer beater to win the game. {{more:[read more]}}the usual back and forth in Q1 …
In the first quarter, it was the usual back and forth affair that you would expect in a playoff game in the second round. Iowa Park scored first with a 3 and Kennedale matched it. From that point on the lead changed hands 10 times and tied 4 times. Q1 ended with Kennedale up by one point, 17-16.their last lead moments into Q2 …At the start of Q2, the Hawks sank a 2 pointer and took the lead 18-17. It would be their last lead of the night. Iowa Park would tie it once more a few moments later at 20 but it was Wildcats ball after that. Kennedale took control of the game for good by going on a 13-2 run to take a 33-22 lead at the half.
KHS Cheerleaders celebrate with Wildcats on area win)
but it was all Kennedale …
In the 3rd Kennedale open the lead to 16 with a score of 42-26. At one point Iowa Park got as close 12 points but it was all Kennedale, as late into the game, the Cats led by as much as 24 points. The final was 65-46 and the Cats were area champions once again. Kennedale has not lost an area match-up in 4 years.
combining for 2/3rds of Cats points …
Kennedale?s top two scorers did it again, combining to score 2/3rds of the Cats points with {{t2:Darious Hammond:}} (Sr) scoring 22 and {{t2:Brandon Conwright:
}} (Sr) popping in 21. {{t2:Colton Otts:
}} (Sr) chipped in 8, {{t2:Quardriaz Wadley:
}} (Sr) 6, {{t2:Chris Saulsby:
}} (Jr) 4 and {{t2:Stephone Jackson:
}} (Jr) 4.
regional quarterfinal set for Tuesday …
Kennedale will play #25 Wichita Falls Hirschi (22-11, 7-2) set for Tuesday 7:30 p.m. at Decatur High School in a regional quarterfinal game.
