The basketball season came to an abrupt end this week as both Webb City teams were defeated in the semifinals of the Class 5 District 6 tournament at Willard. 

The third-seeded girls opened the tournament Saturday with a 59-51 win over Bolivar. They returned to Willard Monday to face second-seeded Willard and fell 62-41.

Willard now takes on top-seed Carl Junction in the girls-bracket final at 6 p.m. Friday.

Finishing the season with a 12-14, the girls team says goodbye to four seniors, Kenzie Robbins, Ripley Shanks, Josie Spikereit and Austyn Mickey.

The third-seeded Webb City boys started tournament play Saturday with a 71-53 win over McDonald County.

Max Higginbotham tied for the most three-pointers in a single game in program history as he knocked down eight. He scored 19 points in the third quarter and finished with a 29.

Kaden Turner finished with 11 points and a team-leading 9 rebounds. Isaiah Brisco grabbed a career-high 8 rebounds. Brisco, Dante Washington and Trey Roets each scored nine points.

The team didn’t look the same, though, on Tuesday night against second-seeded Parkview. Four Vikings scored in double figures as Parkview advanced 75-54 to play top-seeded Bolivar at 7:30 p.m. Friday. 

It was a tough district, with the top three seeds all ranked in the top 10 statewide. Webb City was ranked sixth, Parkview eighth and Bolivar third.

Webb City’s Cardinals barely missed the team’s season goal of winning 20 games. They won 18 and lost 9.

There are five departing seniors, Isaiah Brisco, Max Higginbotham, Dupree Jackson, Kaden Turner and Cohl Vaden.