District basketball tournament jumps off

District tournament play for Big Sky Basketball teams will get underway tonight and continue through the week.

Six teams from the Big Sky League are facing off and will vie for a place in the OSAA State 1A Basketball Tournament.

Girls Teams

On Monday, the Wheeler Rattlers girls team (combined team of Wheeler High, Spray High, and Mitchell High School) will travel to Trout Lake to open the tournament.

The Lady Rattlers (8-6 League, 9-11 Overall) are the #3 seed from the Big Sky East and the Trout Lake Mustangs (13-2 League, 17-5 Overall) are the #2 seed from the Big Sky West.

The winner will face the #1 seed from the Big Sky East - Ione/Arlington Cardinals (14-8 Overall, 11-3 League).

On the other side of the bracket, the #2 seed from the east - Sherman Co. Lady Huskies (10-4 League, 15-8 Overall) - will host #3 seed from the west, Klickitat / Glenwood (7-7 League, 10-7 Overall).

The winner will face top seed South Wasco (15-0 League, 23-2 Overall) on Wednesday in Maupin.

The Big Sky District Championship Games will be played in The Dalles on Saturday, February 18.

Boys Teams

On Tuesday, the #2 seed east seed Ione/Arlington (10-11 Overall, 7-5 League) will host #3 west seed Dufur (11-9 Overall, 9-5 League). The winner will face South Wasco (22-2 Overall, 14-0 League in Maupin on Thursday.

Also on Tuesday, the #3 east seed Sherman Co. (13-10 Overall, 5-7 League) will travel to Hood River to play Horizon Christian (16-6 Overall, 11-3 League).

On Thursday, the Wheeler Rattlers will host the winner of the Sherman / Horizon Christian game in Spray at 6 PM.

Wheeler Co. will then play in The Dalles for the Big Sky Championship games on Saturday, Feb. 18. The top four teams playing in The Dalles will go on to the state tournament.