Featured photo by Douglas Blow
The No. 6 seed Bossier Bearkats and No. 1 Wossman Wildcats, two powerhouse programs with long histories of success, will face off in the non-select Division II state championship game Saturday in Lake Charles.
Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Burton Complex.
Bossier (22-11) brings a 15-game winning streak into the game. Wossman (27-6) has won 11 of its last 12. The Wildcats’ only loss was to select Division III runner-up Calvary Baptist 57-55 on Jan. 18.
Bossier is looking for its fifth state championship since 2011 and sixth overall. The Bearkats won titles in 1960, 2011, 2016, 2020 and 2023.
Bossier is in the championship game for the eighth time since 2009.
After finishing runner-up five times from 2016-23, Wossman broke through with a championship last season.
The Bearkats and Wildcats have been frequent regular-season opponents. Wossman won 72-63 on Dec. 21 on its home court.
In a Facebook post after that game, Bossier Head Coach Justin Collins wrote that when Bossier and Wossman play it’s a battle not a game.
The teams have also met several times recently in the playoffs. Bossier defeated Wossman 48-42 in the semifinals in 2023 en route to the non-select Division I championship.
The year before, the Wildcats defeated the Bearkats 56-46 in the Class 3A semifinals. In 2020, Bossier won 62-61 in the 3A championship game with no fans in attendance at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year, both teams have played extremely tough schedules that prepared them for the playoffs.
Wossman received a bye in the first round then routed No. 16 Abbeville 86-53 in the second.
The Wildcats got a test from District 2-4A rival and No. 8 Bastrop in the quarterfinals before prevailing 69-57. In the semifinals, Wossman pulled out a 56-52 victory over No. 5 Brusly.
Zion Weeks, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, led the Wildcats against Brusly with 31 points. That was about 10 points above his season average.
Senior guard Morgan Robinson averages about 10 points. Senior guard Davey Mays averages about nine. Freshman forward Caderrius Williams and senior forward Andre Mackey both average about eight.
Wossman and Bossier didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from the field in the semifinals. The Wildcats made 32 percent of their shots. The Bearkats made 31 in their 51-35 victory over No. 2 Minden.
Weeks was 12-of-29, including 2-of-8 from 3-point range. The Wildcats were 4-of-18 from behind the arc overall.
Seniors Kam Davenport and Kerel Dean led Bossier against Minden with 15 and 14 points, respectively. The 6-7 Dean led Bossier in the first game against Wossman with 22 points, about one below his season average.