Sports

After a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Wills Point Lady Tigers return to action this week welcoming 11 other schools to town for the annual Lady Tigers Basketball Classics Nov. 30-Dec. 2.

Participating teams are scheduled to include Community, Dallas Life, Edgewood, Forney, Heritage, Kaufman, Kemp, Paschal, Poetry Christian, Quinlan and TCA.

Wills Point was set to open tournament play at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 30 against Poetry Christian. . With a win, the Lady Tigers would advance to play the winner of the game between Quinlan and Paschal today (Dec. 1) for a 1:30 p.m. tip-off.

A loss against Poetry Christian would move the Lady Tigers to the consolation portion of the bracket for a 3 p.m. tip-off against the loser of Quinlan-Paschal.

Other upcoming dates for the Lady Tigers are set to include a road trip to Eustace Dec. 5 and an appearance at the annual Edgewood Tournament Dec. 7-9.

The Wills Point Tigers are scheduled to stay close to home this weekend, joining 11 other area schools at this year's Jack Shellnutt Edgewood Invitational Tournament Nov. 30-Dec. 2.

The varsity bracket will be separated into four separate pools, including Wills Point, tournament host Edgewood and Bullard scheduled to participate in Pool A.

Wills Point was scheduled to take the court each day of the tournament, opening up play beginning at 1:15 Nov. 30 against the Bulldogs. The Tigers will also be in action Dec. 1, participating in the third game of the day when they take on Bullard beginning at 11:50 a.m.

Teams that finish first overall in their respective pool will compete in the Gold Bracket Dec. 2, while teams finishing second will compete in the Silver Bracket and teams finishing third competing in the Bronze Bracket.

The Wills Point Tigers extended their District 6-4A winning streak to nine consecutive games on Friday night, knocking off preseason favorite Dallas Lincoln 39-20 to improve their record to 5-4 overall including a perfect 4-0 in district play heading into the final night of the regular season.

The win by Wills Point, coupled with a win by Ferris over Dallas Roosevelt the same night, sets up an intriguing final night to District 6-4A play with the winner of the game between the Tigers and Yellowjackets taking home this year’s district championship.

Wills Point won the turnover battle against Lincoln, capitalizing on a pair of miscues en route to their fifth consecutive win following an 0-4 play.

The Wills Point Tiger tennis team continued to add milestones to its resume last week, capping the fall team tennis portion of the season by finishing third overall at the 4A UIL State Tennis Tournament in College Station Nov. 1-2.

Wills Point fought down to the wire, falling 10-4 to eventual runner-up Feredericksburg. The Tiger tennis program finishes the fall season with a sterling 16-3 record overall.

Individual scores included:

-Chase Daniell def. Broque Constantine, 6-4, 7-5

-Kash Adams def. Levi Wilkins, 7-5, 6-2

-Maddie Booth lost to Claire Maxe,y 6-0, 6-1

-Claire Hiler def. Caitlyn Halford, 3-6, 6-2, 10-8

-Chase Daniell/Aidan Phillips lost to Broque Constantine/Levi Wilkins, 3-6, 4-6

-Kash Adams/Jack Johns def. Noah Deleon/Jason Peete, 6-1, 6-4

-Josh Schreffler/Austin Etheridge lost to Blake Boubel/Thomas Wainwright, 6-3, 0-6, 8-10

The Wills Point Lady Tigers endured plenty of ups and downs throughout the 2017 season, overcoming a woeful 0-4 start to district play to fight their way back into playoff contention with the regular season winding down.

Despite some bouts of inconsistency along the way, Wills Point saved its best volleyball of the season during the final weeks of October and first week of November, opening their playoff run with a thrilling five-set win over Paris during the bi-district round of the playoffs back on Oct. 30.

Wills Point continued their steallar close to the season last week, hitting the court two more times en route to the program’s first Regional Quarterfinal round appearance since the 2001 season.

The Lady Tigers began their week by traveling to Lindale Nov. 4, rallying from a two-sets-to-none deficit to score a 15-25, 24-26, 25-22, 25-23, 15-9 win over the Gilmer Buckeyes.

Wills Point High School won the "Spirit Ball" award sponsored by Mineola radio station KMOO (99.9 FM). The announcement was made prior to kick off last Friday night between the Wills Point Tigers and Dallas Lincoln. As part of the award, the WPHS Athletic Booster Club was presented a check for $100 from City Barber Shop in Wills Point, the sponsor of the award. Shown are Danny LaJone with the WPHS Athletic Booster Club, Tiger football players Bryan Mitchell and Brandon Smith, Stan Brown of the City Barber Shop, WP Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Greg Cranfill, Jeff White of KMOO, and football players Tyler James and Jacob Moore. The award is announced on KMOO's Friday Night Live following each football broadcast and is based on the number of callers supporting their schools.

Attempting to capture the District 4-6A, Division II championship for the second year in a row moved one step closer to becoming a reality Friday night as the Wills Point Tigers dominated the Rains Wildcats, 51-8, in Emory.

Coach Greg Cranfill’s Tigers captured their fourth consecutive victory to even their season mark at 4-4 but more importantly, they are now 3-0 in district play all alone in first place after previous co-leader, Dallas Lincoln, suffered a surprising 22-20 home defeat Friday night at the hands of the Ferris Yellowjackets.

Wills Point can capture the District 6-4A, Division II title outright if they defeat Dallas Lincoln at home in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday and win at Ferris Nov. 10 in the regular season and district finale. Rains is now 1-7 overall and 0-3 in district action.

The Wills Point Tiger tennis team continued its march to the 4A State Tennis Tournament last week, knocking off the rival Kaufman Lions in the Regional Final to book their ticket to College Station.

Wills Point finished the regular season by winning the District 13-4A championship before knocking off Pittsburg in the bi-district round, Bullard in the Area round, Kilgore in the Regional Quarterfinals, Frisco Lebanon Trail in the Regional Semifinals before a 10-8 win over the rival Kaufman Lions in Regional Final Oct. 27.

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The Wills Point Lady Tigers have been well-seasoned in playing their best volleyball with their backs against the wall this season, fighting back from the brink of missing the playoffs entirely to winning five of their last six contests to wrap up the fourth and final playoff position coming out of District 13-4A.

With their fourth place finish in district, the Lady Tigers advanced to take on District 14-4A Champion Paris Wildcats in the bi-district round. Wills Point and Paris had crossed paths twice before with the Wildcats recording a three-set win back on Aug. 26 and the Lady Tigers evening the season series Sept. 8 with a four-set win.

Despite playing three five-set matches in their final four district contests, the Lady Tigers perserved to outlast the Wildcats in yet another five-set match Oct. 30.

The Wills Point Tigers celebrated Homecoming night on a winning note Oct. 13, forcing three Dallas Roosevelt turnovers en route to a 41-28 win over the Mustangs.

Roosevelt began play against Wills Point on offense, picking up a minimal gain on first down befoe being pushed back on a five-yard penalty. Facing a second down and 14 to go situation, the Mustangs attempted a pass across the middle that was intercepted by senior linebacker Bryan Mitchell at the 36-yard line. Mitchell proceeded to weave his way through Mustang players, reaching the end zone to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. Aidan Phillips added the PAT, extending the Tiger lead to 7-0 with 9:54 to play in the opening quarter.

Roosevelt fared slightly better on its second drive, picking up two first downs to reach midfield before being forced to punt the ball back to the Tigers.