PLAYOFFS START TONIGHT! | Girls basketball playoffs under way for ETB-area teams

Basketball’s playoffs begin tonight for some teams in the ETBlitz.com area, as the University Interscholastic League’s girls postseason is under way.

The only one of the Class 4A girls teams in the ETBlitz coverage area to make the playoffs was coach Crystal Mill’s Henderson Lady Lions (14-14), who held on through a tough 16-4A schedule and got in as the No. 4 seed. The top four teams from each district make the playoffs.

This year, now, the UIL has divided the rest of its sports into two divisions, as football has been, based on enrollment, so each classification will have a Division I – that’ll be the two programs with the largest enrollments from each district – and a Division II, which will be the programs with the two smallest enrollments in each district.

So tonight, Henderson will face Canton (27-5) at 7:30 p.m. at Floyd Wagstaff Gymnasium on the Tyler Junior College campus in the bi-district, or first, round of the UIL Class 4A-Division I playoffs.

Also tonight, even though they’re not in the ETB coverage area, Pine Tree (20-9), the No. 3 seed in 16-4A, meets Mabank (27-6) at TJC – that’s the first game, actually, at 6 p.m., just before Henderson-Canton. PT is also in the 4A-DI playoffs.

The two schools in 16-4A that went 4A-DII were the district champion, Chapel Hill (22-10), and the second-place team, Spring Hill (22-11). They both play tonight, as well: Chapel Hill faces Lindale (16-15) at the University of Texas at Tyler at 7:15 p.m., and Spring Hill meets Brownsboro (20-11) tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Arp High School.

Now, in 16-3A, the most dominant team in the ETBlitz.com coverage area, coach Patricia Nelson’s Tatum Lady Eagles, will open the UIL Class 3A-Division II playoffs tonight at Winona High School at 6 p.m. against Edgewood (9-22).

Tatum is 22-10, went 12-0 in district play, hasn’t lost a district game since 2021, in fact, and didn’t lose at home all season.

Also tonight: coach David Minnix’s Troup Lady Tigers (23-8), the second-place team from 16-3A, will take on Quitman (24-9) at 7 p.m. at Union Grove High School. That’s also in the 3A-DII playoffs.

The two teams from 16-3A to make the 3A-DI playoffs are Gladewater and Sabine, and they both play on Tuesday.

Gladewater (10-14) will face Mineola (19-14) on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. at UT-Tyler, and Sabine (9-21) will face Malakoff (28-4) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at TJC’s Wagstaff Gymnasium.

The boys’ playoffs will begin next week, and as soon as pairings are announced, we’ll have them here on ETBlitz.com.