Festus faces Hillsboro, DeSoto dances with Hawks in basketball quarterfinals on KJFF

(Festus) It’s win-or-go-home time as the Class 5 District 2 playoff basketball tournaments start with a pair of quarterfinals Saturday on KJFF.

It all starts when the Festus Tigers battle the Hillsboro Hawks in the girls’ quarterfinal Saturday afternoon.

Festus is on a roll, having won eight of their last 10 games to improve to 9-7 thanks to super sophomore guard Josie Allen.

Tigers head coach Steve McFarland says the scariest part of Allen’s game is how she’s only getting better.

Hillsboro is 6-16, but junior Kayla Van Horn and senior Zoe Wood helped the Hawks win back-to-back games right before their regular-season finale.

One of those wins was a rare loss for the Tigers in the second half of the season.

Festus takes on Hillsboro in the District 2 quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at 1.

Pregame coverage starts at 12:45 on AM 1400.

Then, later that day, Hillsboro takes on the DeSoto Dragons in a boys’ quarterfinal showdown.

Seniors Aidan Blair, Nick Krodinger and Jordan Mertens guided DeSoto to winning eight of their last 12 games to end the regular season.

Dragons head coach Zeb Hammond says everything is falling into place.

Hillsboro is 10-14, losing seven of its final 11 regular-season games.

These two teams are getting exceptionally familiar with each other, as they will play for the fifth time this season.

The Dragons haven’t minded, winning all of the previous four games.

The Hawks look to finally get the upper hand when Hillsboro faces off with DeSoto in the Class 5 District 2 boys’ quarterfinal Saturday night at 5.

Pregame coverage begins at 4:45 on AM 1400 KJFF.