The season is over for the Plains Horsemen and Trotters.

Next year will be on them before you know it and the future, based on the number of freshmen, sophomores and juniors on each team, promises to be better for players and fans.

Both Plains teams finished 0-2 in this past week’s Western 7B District tournaments, which were dominated by powerhouse, senior-laden teams from Bigfork.

The Horsemen opened the 7B tournament with a road game against Eureka, who wound up second in the conference tourney. Bigfork won both the boys and girls championships as expected.

Eureka got ahead early, finishing the first quarter with a 17-8, only to see the Horsemen battle back in the second quarter to pull within three, 24-21 at the half.

But the second half belonged to the home standing Lions, who outscored Plains 17-7 in the third quarter, then added 13 more points to the lead over the final eight minutes of play.

Eureka’s Braden Casazza scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Lions’ victory. Guard Trent Truman threw in 13 to aid the Eureka effort.

Horseman junior forward Anaya Loberg topped Plains with 18 points, while guard Eduardo Perianez pitched in nine.

That loss sent Plains to the consolation rounds, where they ran into Sanders County rival Thompson Falls, which beat them 72-28. The loss to T Falls eliminated Plains from the tournament.

Thompson Falls finished fourth and advanced to the Divisional playoffs this weekend in Anaconda.

The Blue Hawks jumped out to a 23-7 lead after one quarter of play, then outscored the Horsemen 19-4 in the second quarter to take a commanding 42-11 halftime lead.

Plains rallied in the third quarter but could trim only two points off the halftime deficit. T Falls then outscored Plains 18-3 to coast to the win and stay alive in the 7B playoffs.

Loberg scored nine points to lead Plains, while the Blue Hawks got 16 points apiece from Jesse Claridge and Bryson LeCoure.

The two losses dropped Plains to 3-16 as they wrapped up the 2022-23 season.

The Trotters, meanwhile, also took on Eureka in the opening round of the tournament last Tuesday night on the Lady Lions’ home court. The two teams fought to a 15-14 halftime score in favor of Eureka.

The Lady Lions then outscored Plains 22-14 in the third quarter in what proved to be the game’s decisive eight minute stretch. Both teams scored 17 in the fourth quarter as Eureka held onto their nine point lead the rest of the way.

Plains senior guard Carlie Wagoner poured in a game-high 22 points to lead the Trotters, while Aubrey Casazza led Eureka with 13.

The Trotters next faced third seed St. Ignatius in the consolation round Saturday in Eureka. The Lady Bulldogs came out strong, building a 25-6 lead after the first eight minutes of play, then upping that lead to 41-9 at the half.

St. Ignatius outscored the Trotters 14-7 in the second half to wrap up the win and end Plains’ season with a 2-17 record.

Izzy Crabb paced Plains with five points, while Kooper Page topped St. Ignatius with 17.

The Trotters loose Wagoner, Kassidy O’Keefe and Crabb to graduation, but half a large contingent of sophomores and ninth graders returning next season.