A year has not made much difference.
Last March, ScoresBroadcast.com had six teams still alive in the boys and girls high school basketball tournaments when the season was canceled right before the girls state tourney.
This March, nearly the same six are still playing. The Botkins boys have had a terrific year and are the new club taking part in the week’s action. Big tourney games Wednesday through Saturday are on both ScoresBroadcast.com and on WMVR, 105.5 TAM FAM, in Sidney.
Last season, 2019-2020, ScoresBroadcast carried more sports contests than it had in six years. Its audience for the school year leaped to more than 150,000.
More than 1900 IP addresses per game joined SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System, for three tournament battles last weekend, including the Botkins-Fort Loramie boys sectional final on Friday night.
“Without the health crisis and limited seating at Garbry Gym in Piqua, that place is filled to the rafters for the Trojans and Redskins,” said Jack Kramer of SCORES. In excess of 2200 IP addresses connected to the online stream on Friday.
The SCORES listenership continues to expand. This month it may top two-million over 15 years.
The Anna girls take on Purcell-Marian in a Division-III regional semi-final at Springfield on Wednesday at 7:30 PM. Anna edged Purcell last year by a point for the regional title.
On Thursday at 5 PM, Fort Loramie tangles with Minster in a girls D-IV regional semi-final. The two clubs would have likely met in the state final last March.
The Anna boys, who blistered the nets for 96 points versus Meadowdale, square off with Jamestown Greeneview in a D-III district final on Friday at 5 PM.
On Saturday at 10:30 AM, the Botkins boys seek their first district title in 20 years against Fayetteville-Perry. Later that day, the Jackson Center Tigers meet Cedarville for the second straight year in another district championship. Air time is 3:30 PM.
Should the Anna girls win on Wednesday, they would play Waynesville or Worthington Christian on Saturday at 1 PM for a berth in the Final Four.
On Saturday, March 6, at 6:30 PM, the Minster/Fort Loramie and Tri-Village/Legacy Christian survivors vie for a regional championship.
The SCORES broadcast team may have a difficult time negotiating travel to cover four games on Saturday, but will provide the online play-by-play stream for at least three of these contests.
