Both North Mercer Lady Cardinals and Meadville Eagles will play for third place honors tonight in the class one high school basketball tournament at Columbia. That is the result of losses both teams suffered last night in semifinal action.

The North Mercer senior class has done many remarkable things on the basketball court. For the Lady Cardinals, that list includes four straight HDC Conference regular season and tournament championships and four straight district titles, but until the last four days, one goal had eluded Mercer, that being a trip to the "Show-Me Showdown". On Saturday afternoon in St. Joseph, the Lady Cardinals knocked down that wall, stamping their ticket to Columbia.

The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates saw their season come to an end on Saturday afternoon, in a 66-48 loss to Region 16 top-seed Penn Valley in a semifinal played at State Fair Community College in Sedalia.

The Meadville High School basketball teams swept a doubleheader at Green City High School on Saturday, winning the Class 1, District 11 championships and moving into Class 1 Sectional action at Chillicothe High School

The Class 2, District 16 championship games on Saturday night at Gallatin High School brought two wild games to the floor, with the winners advancing into the state playoffs being the Albany boys and the Maysville girls.

The Stanberry Bulldogs won 19 games through the season on the strength of their defense. On Friday night, victory #20 came to the Bulldogs in the same fashion, with Stanberry holding down a potent North Mercer offense through four quarters and overtime and escaping Worth County High School with a 50-48 win, sending them to the Class 1 state playoffs on Tuesday night at Bearcat Arena in Maryville.

The Putnam County Midgets, in a Class 2, District 6 game played on Monday night at Schuyler County High School, beat the Milan Wildcats by a score of 95-52. The game was broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7 and www.kgozfm.com.

Shelby Salter, a senior at Adair Co. R-II High School, has signed a letter of intent to play softball at North Central Missouri College in Trenton. Shelby Salter is the daughter of Lonnie and Kim Salter of Brashear.

Three Trenton High School wrestlers finished second in the Class 1 state tournament that concluded Saturday night at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. Carlos Gonzalez lost 6-5 in the 113 pound championship match to Jake Gipson of Plattsburg. Gonzalez finished his senior year with a 39-2 record.

The Trenton Lady Bulldogs continue to be hexed by the Penney Lady Hornets, falling on Thursday night by a score of 49-39 in Hamilton. The game, along with the boy's varsity game that followed, was broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7 and www.kgozfm.com.

The Cameron Lady Dragons postseason surge has brought Coach Matt Wenck's squad all the way to the "Show-Me Showdown" in Columbia, after Cameron beat Stockton in the Class 3 state quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at the Independence Events Center, 55-52.

In a story that has repeated numerous times through the past decade, the North Central Missouri College men met the rival Penn Valley Scouts in the Region 16 semifinals on Friday night, and the fourth-seeded Pirates led at halftime. However, the postseason slump for North Central continues, as Penn Valley rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat NCMC 82-78, in a game from Kansas City broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7 and www.kgozfm.com.

Macie Kinsey, a softball pitcher from Belle (Maries R-II) High School, will play softball at North Central Missouri College in Trenton beginning next fall. She is the daughter of Tom and Mendy Kinsey from Belle and will major in business at NCMC.

The North Central Missouri College women's basketball team won a first round Region 16 playoff game yesterday (Saturday) afternoon at the Ketcham Community Center, 100-75 against the Wentworth Red Dragons. The win sends the Lady Pirates into next weekend's Region 16 semifinals in Sedalia, while the Dragons end their season with a record of 5-23. NCMC is 15-14 with a home game on Tuesday night at 5:30 against John Wood to end the regular season.

In a moment four years in waiting for the #2 ranked North Mercer girl's basketball team, the Lady Cardinals were finally able to taste victory against nemesis Jefferson, beating the Lady Eagles 59-39 on Saturday night to win a district championship for the fourth year in a row.

The North Central Missouri College women's basketball team is preparing for a first-round Region 16 game on Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock against the Wentworth Military Academy Red Dragons, doing so with positive momentum after winning games at Cottey College and Wentworth earlier this week.

The Trenton boys played their best offensive half of the season on Tuesday night, scoring 42 points in leading the fourth-seeded Lawson Cardinals 42-40 at the half. Unfortunately for Trenton, the Bulldogs slumped in the third quarter, outscored 21-7, and the "Black and Gold", despite a fourth quarter rally, fell short in a 79-66 final from Bishop LeBlond High School. Tuesday night's game was broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7 and www.kgozfm.com.

A senior at Benton High School in St. Joseph, Kenzie Musser, has agreed to play softball for North Central Missouri College this coming fall. Musser is the daughter of Michael and Lisa Musser. Mr. Musser is a baseball/softball coach at Benton.

The combination of stifling defense and timely third-quarter shooting sent the sophomore-heavy Lawson Lady Cardinals to a 36-29 district quarterfinal win over the Trenton Lady Bulldogs on Monday night, in basketball action from Bishop LeBlond High School broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7 and www.kgozfm.com.

The Princeton girls and boys, in Friday night action broadcast on KTTN FM 92.3 and www.kttn.com, lost a pair of games in King City against the host Wildkats, ending their 2012-2013 regular seasons with defeats.