Stay on the winner’s side of the bracket.

That was the goal last week for Vienna’s Lady Eagles and Bland’s Lady Bears during the annual Bland Lady Bears Basketball Tournament at Bland Middle School.

Posting wins over Cuba and Steelville, KC Curler’s Lady Eagles advanced to Friday night’s championship game against Salem’s Lady Tigers.

Trailing 20-17 entering the fourth quarter, Vienna outscored the Lady Tigers 9-4 to secure first-place hardware following their 26-24 victory.

Down 5-4 after one quarter, Vienna got two points apiece from Scarlett Weeks and Aspyn Gorman during the first six minutes of the title game.

Doubled up 10-5 in the second quarter, Vienna found themselves trailing Salem 15-9 at halftime.

Macie Rowden led the Lady Eagles with three second-quarter points.

Gorman paced Vienna with four first-half points.

Edging Salem 8-5 to start the second half, Vienna cut their halftime deficit in half to three points at 20-17 after three quarters.

Alexis Curtis led the Lady Eagles with six third-quarter points.

Adding to her six third-quarter points, Curtis scored five of Vienna’s nine fourth-quarter points helping them take the Bland Lady Bears Tournament championship plaque back to Maries County.

Curtis led Vienna with a team-high 11 points followed by six points from Gorman.

Weeks added four points followed closely with three points from Macie Rowden.

Liberty Rowden rounded out the Lady Eagle scoring with a fourth-quarter basket for two points.

Posting a 38-9 win over Cuba in their tournament opener, Vienna took on Steelville’s Lady Cardinals in the tournament semifinals last Thursday with a spot in the title game on the line.

Racing out to a 15-2 first-quarter lead, the Lady Eagles went on to clip Steelville 38-20.

Curtis led Vienna and all scorers with a game-high 23 points followed by six points apiece from Weeks and Macie Rowden.

Gorman chipped in two points while Delaney Schwartze rounded out the Lady Eagle scoring against Steelville with a second-quarter free throw for one point.

Nate Lansford’s Bland Lady Bears entered their home tournament also looking to stay on the winner’s side of the bracket.

Turning back Viburnum 34-9 in their tournament opener last Tuesday, Bland looked to join Vienna in the title game with a semifinal win over Salem.

Leading 30-25 after three quarters, Bland was outscored 13-2 in the fourth quarter sending them to the third-place game after a 38-32 loss to the Lady Tigers.

Friday’s third-place game against Steelville saw the Lady Bears having to play from behind.

Trailing 11-9 at halftime and 16-15 after three quarters, Bland got a pair of free throws from Natalie Lansford with :42 remaining helping the Lady Bears hold on for third-place hardware following a 24-22 victory over Steelville.

Taking a 9-4 lead after one quarter, Bland got four points from Zoey Camden to go with a Makenna Lange 3-pointer and a Lansford bucket during the opening six minutes.

Held scoreless in the second quarter, the Lady Bears went into halftime trailing Steelville 11-9.

Edging Steelville 6-5 to open the second half, Bland entered the fourth quarter trailing the Cardinals 16-15 behind four third-quarter points from Lansford.

Outscoring the Lady Cardinals 9-6 in the final six minutes, Bland came from behind to keep third-place hardware in town.

Lansford led the Lady Bears with nine points followed closely with eight points from Lange and seven points from Zoe Camden.

In spite of not finding the scoring column, Chloe Jones pulled down a team-high nine rebounds for the Lady Bears while Kennedy Kinkead also pulled down five rebounds.

In their 34-9 opening-round win over Viburnum last Tuesday, Jones and Lansford led the Bland scoring attack with 11 points each.

Camden added seven points followed by three from Kinkead and two from Lange.