It was a sendoff fitting for a team of champions.

With cheers and band music filling the air in the gymnasium, the students and staff of Ironton High School cheered on the basketball team as they left for the state tournament. The girls take on Middletown Madison today at the Ohio State University Schottenstein Center.

Before they left the team also got to shave the heads of two members of the Tiger Clan booster club — something the booster members promised they would allow if either the boys or the girls teams made it to the state tournament.

“We’re just trying to motivate them a little,” Rick McKnight said. “It’ll grow back.”

McKnight jokingly reveled in the thought of saving money on shampoo in the meantime.

Greg Klaiber also got a haircut.

“I’m elated,” Klaiber said. “It don’t get no better than this, even if it means a haircut. “Anything to fire them up.”

The excitement is good for the school, said John Wolfe, a member of the board of education.

“Anything that encourages these young people is good for the school, it’s good for morale,” Wolfe said. “They get fired up about this and next they’re fired up about their school work.”

As the band played and the students cheered, the basketball team boarded a bus for Columbus.

The girls’ game is today at 1 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center of the Ohio State University Schottenstein Center.