Thursday’s busy sports schedule includes high school basketball, as four area teams are looking to finish the week as state champs.
Viola’s girls will be one of three local teams in Hot Springs, as they compete for the Class 1A title. The Lady Longhorns’ final opponent of the season will be Kirby.
Viola came into the tournament as the champions of Region 2. The Lady Longhorns are 39-2 on the season with their losses coming against two of the top teams in the state, and they advanced to the finals after getting past Greers Ferry West Side on Saturday. Viola head coach Jason Hughes says it’s been a fun season for him and his squad.
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The Lady Longhorns are facing a Kirby team with a record of 38-5. The Lady Trojans, the champions of Region 4, punched their ticket to Hot Springs after invoking the mercy rule on Alpena in the other semifinal. Hughes says Viola and Kirby have a lot of similarities, especially in scoring.
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Tip-off at Bank OZK Arena is scheduled for noon.
The next game will feature the Izard County boys, as they are one win away from successfully defending their championship from a year ago. The Cougars will have to go through Nevada to keep the Class 1A title in Brockwell.
Izard County edged out Kirby in Saturday’s semifinals to improve to 39-5 on the year. The Cougars entered the tournament as the Region 2 champs. Izard County head coach Kyle McCandlis says from the beginning of the year, his players expected to have bullseyes on their backs as the defending state champs, but he’s pleased with the manner in which they have handled that pressure.
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The Cougars’ game against Nevada will be a rematch of last year’s championship contest in which Izard County won by 21. The Blue Jays are the champions of Region 4, and they have a mark of 33-6 after beating up on Mount Vernon-Enola on Saturday. McCandlis says Thursday’s game will be a situation in which each team is familiar with the other.
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Gametime is set for 1:45.
Melbourne’s girls will have the first game of the evening, as they also come into Bank OZK Arena as defending champs. The Lady Bearkatz will meet Quitman for the Class 2A state title.
Melbourne advanced to the finals after picking up a 14-point win over Des Arc. The Lady Bearkatz, 33-2 on the season, came into the tournament as the champions of the North Region. Melbourne head coach Eric Teague says his team, similar to the Izard County boys, have also been a target after winning last year’s title.
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The Lady Bearkatz will face a Quitman team that just finished hosting the first three rounds of the tournament. They defeated another group of Lady Bulldogs from Earle on Saturday to improve to 30-3. Teague says the Central Region champs are a talented, well-coached team with a good work ethic.
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The start time is slated for 6 p.m.
All three games will be televised on Arkansas PBS.
After finishing last year as the state runners-up in Missouri’s Class 1, Dora’s boys will have another opportunity at a state title this week. The Falcons will be in Springfield Thursday for their first game in the Show Me Showdown, as they meet Jefferson from Conception Junction in the state semifinals.
Dora comes into the game with a record of 30-2 on the year. The District 4 champion Falcons broke the century mark in their quarterfinal game on Saturday, when they pounded Delta 106-70. Dora head coach Rick Luna says the team’s schedule this year was beefed up to prepare it for this moment, but he didn’t think it would only have two losses at this point.
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Jefferson, the defending Class 1 state champs, returned to the tournament this year as the winners of District 16. The Eagles are 28-2 after beating Princeton at St. Joseph.
The Falcons ended up playing Jefferson last year in the state title game, and the Eagles came out on top 75-65. Luna says it was one of those games in which Jefferson could do no wrong.
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Tip-off at JQH Arena is scheduled for 6:50.
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