There’s not much denying the fact that the Sands Mustangs are one of the best Class 1A girls basketball teams in the state. Their current No. 7 state ranking proves it. They’ve probably also been playing one of the toughest schedules on the South Plains, if not the state. Sands’ girls were handed only their third defeat of this season on Friday night by Class 3A Merkel, a team that has a reputation for being one of the best in their classification. By holding off Sands, 56-41, the Badgers are now 10-2 on the year. “This was one of those games which was a ...