By DAVID MAY
Special to Mineral Wells Area News
The Mineral Wells Lady Rams this past week played the Levelland Loboettes, one of the top high school girls teams in Class 4A, to the brink of upset in their first-round playoff game. The boys on Tuesday will try to take that a step further.
Mineral Wells will face the Lobos in the opening Class 4A-Region 1 bi-district round at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Stamford High School.
The UIL post-season matchup was set Friday night, after Levelland (17-17, 8-3) defeated Sweetwater, 78-71, to finish second in District 5-1-4A.
Back in the playoffs for the first time in seven years, Mineral Wells (9-26, 4-4) completed its regular season Tuesday, defeating Brownwood to clinch third place in District 6-1-4A.
The Rams-Lobos winner will play the winner of the Krum-Sanger opening-round game. Sanger (22-11, 2-6) finished fourth in District 7-1-4A while Krum (31-3, 10-0) swept through District 8-1-4A to claim the district crown. The Bobcats are currently ranked sixth by Maxpreps and eighth by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.
Mineral Wells will not be looking past aptly-named Levelland, the winners of four straight, nor should the Lobos look past the Rams. While the season records are different, the Rams gelled late in the season, its first under Head Coach Taylor Luster, winning four of its last six and, importantly, avoiding fourth place and facing top 10-ranked Estacado in the first round.