Snowflake won their final two regular season games played last week and now prepares for their first round Copper Tournament, or 1A-3A Open tournament play, which will begin on Tuesday night with the Lobos hosting Monument Valley in the first round game.
The Lady Lobos avenged an earlier season loss to Show Low on Tuesday night using a strong start to defeat the Cougars 46-36. Snowflake had built as much as a 23-point lead, then held off a late charge by Show Low.
Wednesday night in their regular-season finale, the Lobos had no problems with Blue Ridge, defeating the Lady Yellowjackets 51-22. Snowflake finished in second place in the 3A East Region just one game behind league winner Show Low.
On Tuesday night Snowflake will host Monument Valley in the opening round of the Copper Tournament. The Lobos are ranked third while the Mustangs are the No. 14 team. Only the top 16 1A-3A schools based on power points made the Copper tournament. Ten of the top 16 are 3A schools, five are from the 2A conference and Joseph City is the only 1A team in the field.
If teams lose in the first or second round of the Copper tournament they will still return to their respective state tournament brackets. The question will be how much incentive will some teams have to advance to the semi-final round of the Copper tournament. Second-round Copper tournament games are played on Thursday night.
Only the final four teams left in the Copper tournament bracket will not be able to return to their state brackets and play for a state title. The four teams will be playing for the first 1A-3A Open Division title.
If the Lobos win their first-round Copper tournament game, they will face either No. 6 Show Low or No. 11 Joseph City in a second-round game in Snowflake on Thursday night.
If they lose in either of the first two rounds of the Copper tournament, they will be re-seeded into the 3A state tournament bracket on Saturday.
Snowflake is currently 25-4 on the season.
