Abilene High School

The race for a playoff spot in District 4-5A girls’ basketball is coming down the home stretch, while the boys’ race for the playoffs reaches the halfway point of the schedule tonight.

On the girls’ side, Abilene High is in second place in the district at 15-14 overall and 3-2 in the district after a 42-34 win Tuesday night at Wichita Falls Memorial. The Lady Eagles are two games behind district-leading Wylie (24-5 and 5-0) and can clinch a playoff spot tonight with a win over Cooper. That game tips off at 6 p.m. at Eagle Gym.

On the boys’ side, Abilene High is tied with Wichita Falls Legacy for second place at 2-1 in the league, one game behind Wylie, which sits atop the district standings with a 3-0 record. Abilene High made it an AHS sweep Tuesday with a 64-47 win at Memorial to improve to 17-10 and 2-1. The Eagles can take a step closer to clinching a playoff berth with a win tonight over crosstown rival Cooper in a game that tips off at 7:30 p.m. at Eagle Gym.

The Cooper boys are 8-13 overall and 0-3 in the district but only one game out of fourth place in the league. The Cougars lost to Wylie at home Tuesday and will close out the first half of district play tonight with another rivalry game.

The Cooper girls are 0-5 in the district and need to win their last three games and get some help from teams ahead of them to make the playoffs.

After Friday night’s crosstown games, Abilene High will play a doubleheader Tuesday at Wichita Falls Legacy, and Cooper will host a doubleheader Tuesday against Wichita Falls Memorial. Abilene High’s girls will close the regular season next Friday when the boys and girls teams host Wylie in a doubleheader at Eagle Gym.

The Cooper girls close their regular season with tonight’s game at AHS, Tuesday’s game at home against Memorial, and a road game at Wichita Falls Legacy on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

In soccer, the Cooper boys and girls continued their strong play in the early part of the season, with the boys carrying a 5-2-0 record into tonight’s home match against Midland Legacy (7 p.m. at Shotwell Stadium) and the girls at 6-3-3 going into a match tonight at Midland Legacy. They’ll be at Shotwell Stadium next Tuesday (Jan. 28) for a match against Lake Worth.

At Abilene High, the boys are 3-2-2 after tying Denton Ryan, 1-1, Tuesday night in Denton. The Eagles are back on the pitch Saturday in San Angelo when they take on the San Angelo Central Bobcats in a 12 p.m. match at Old Bobcat Stadium.

The Abilene High girls are 2-6-0 after Wednesday night’s loss at Midland High. The Lady Eagles are back in action tonight at Graham and next Tuesday at San Angelo Central.