It was a special night of basketball on Feb. 2 for the Gans High School basketball teams at Bryant “Big Country” Reeves Field House.

Prior to the games against Cave Springs, longtime coach and teacher Larry Ringgold was honored by having the court named in his honor.

Former players and friends returned for Larry’s big night.

As for the games themselves, the Gans teams swept the Cave Springs squads as the Lady Grizzlies defeated the Lady Hornets 5044, then the Grizzlies downed the Hornets with a 52-46 comefrom- behind victory. On Jan. 31 at Gore Event Center, the Gans squads suffered a pair of losses to the host Gore teams as the Lady Grizzlies lost 40-30 to the Lady Pirates, followed by the Grizzlies falling 59-22.

On Feb. 3 on Coach Jerry Ward Court at Webbers Falls Event Center, the Gans teams also split road games, as the Lady Grizzlies beat the host Lady Warriors 52-37, but the Grizzlies fell 47-30 to the host Warriors.

On Thursday night at home, both Gans squads fell to Central’s teams, who were celebrating their Senior Night. The Lady Tigers beat the Lady Grizzlies 60-38 and the Tigers downed the Grizzlies 64-17.

In the girls’ win over Cave Springs, the Lady Grizzlies (11-12) had a 20-9 lead after a period but saw the Lady Hornets trim their deficit to 28-24 at the half.

Down 47-44 with 1:21 left in the game, the Lady Hornets had three shot attempts to tie the game over the next 45 to 60 seconds, only to see each one miss the mark.

The Lady Grizzlies scored the game’s final three points, two free throws by Skilynn Bird and a free throw by Brighton Dorsey, to preserve the win.

For the game, Nora Barnes scored a 21 points and Bird added 20 points to lead Gans, followed by Dorsey and Abigail Leach with four points each and Valan Harper with a free throw.

In the boys’ victory over Cave Springs, down 27-23 at halftime and 41-40 after three quarters, the Grizzlies (4-17) used a 12-5 final period to sting the Hornets.

For the game, Bryce Stevens scored 14 points and Austin Hines added 10 points to lead Gans, followed by Leland Locust with seven points, Jessie Phillips and Aiden Garcia with six points each, Eli Blackmon and Preston Moore each with four points and Preston Bennett with a free throw.

In the girls’ loss to Gore, after the Lady Grizzlies clawed their way to a 6-0 lead to begin the game, the Lady Pirates ended the first quarter with an 11-2 run to take an 11-8 lead after a period. Gore would never trail again.

In defeat, Barnes scored a game-high 20 points to lead Gans, followed by Bird with eight points and Dorsey with two points.

In the boys’ loss to Gore, from opening jump ball until the final buzzer, the running clock was instituted for the entire game, only stopping for free-throw shooting and timeouts.

A 3-point basket by Blackmon put the Grizzlies ahead 6-5 with 6:08 left in the first quarter. It would be the last lead for Gans on the night.

The Pirates ended the period on a 13-5 run to take an 18-11 lead into the second quarter, which became a 31-15 halftime advantage and a 52-20 lead into the fourth quarter.

In defeat, Blackmon led Gans with 11 points, followed by Stevens with five points and Hines, Phillips and Harley Strahm with two points apiece.

In the girls’ win over Webbers Falls, the Lady Grizzlies put away the game early, jumping out to a 17-2 lead after a quarter en route to a 3013 halftime advantage and a 42-25 lead going into the final period.

For the game, Gans put a trio of players into double figures, led by Bird’s 16 points, followed by Harper’s 12 points and Barnes with 11 points. Madi Pilking-ton scored eight points, followed by KrisLynn Martin with three points and Dorsey with two points.

In the boys’ loss to Webbers Falls, the Warriors, who trailed the Grizzlies after a quarter by the score of 8-5, doubled the Grizzlies 14-7 in the second period to take a 19-15 lead at halftime. Webbers Falls then outscored Gans 28-15 in the second half to complete the comefrom- behind victory. In defeat, Hines and Moore scored seven points each to lead Gans, followed by Stevens and Blackmon each with five points, Phillips with four points and Brayden Bradley with two points.

In the girls’ loss to Central, a basket by Bird put the Lady Grizzlies ahead 2-0 with 6:44 left in the first quarter. It would be the only lead of the night for Gans.

The Lady Tigers ended the period with a 15-2 run to take a 15-4 lead after a quarter, which became a 36-17 halftime advantage and a 53-27 lead heading into the final period.

In defeat, Bird led Gans with 16 points, followed by Harper with eight points, Dorsey with six points, Barnes with five points and Pilkington with three points.

In the boys’ loss to Central in a game in which the majority of the time the running clock was instituted, the Tigers jumped out to an 18-3 lead after a quarter en route to a 36-5 advantage at the half and a 48-11 lead after three periods.

In defeat, Stevens led Gans with 11 points, followed by Hines with four points and Phillips with two points.

After entertaining Midway on Monday night, the Gans teams will begin postseason play by being the host teams for the Class B, Division II District Tournament, which will be Friday and Saturday.

Both Gans teams will be in make-or-break district openers on Friday night as the Lady Grizzlies will meet Leflore at 6 p.m., followed by the Grizzlies playing Strother at 7:30 p.m. The winners will not only advance to Saturday night’s district title games against Strother’s girls and Leflore’s boys, respectively, but they automatically advance to next week’s regional tournament at Indianola.

Friday night’s losers will see their season come to an end.