Lift for Life Academy Charter has won three girls basketball state championships since 2021. After LFL won the Class 3 state title in 2021 and Class 4 in 2024, the private school was bumped to Class 5, and won that crown last year.
In their last appearance in the state playoffs in 2014, Festus High lost to Battle High in the Class 4 sectionals. The Tigers only appearance in the final four was when they finished fourth in Class 3A in 1988.
Festus (23-6) entered this year’s Class 5 District 1 tournament as the No. 3 seed, but squashed Cape Girardeau Notre Dame (No. 6) 75-33 in the first round, slipped past Farmington (2) by a point in overtime in the semifinals, before upsetting top-seeded Hillsboro 45-40 in the final.
The Tigers play LFL (13-11) in the state quarterfinals Friday, 6 p.m. at Cape Girardeau Central High.
The rest of the Class 5 field includes Grandview (KC) (22-7), Kearney High (19-10), MICDS (18-10), St. Dominic (19-10), Jefferson City Helias Catholic (13-15) and Marshfield (26-2).
The Class 5 final four is March 18-19 at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia.