The Lady Blackhawks will play their last open tournament this year as they play host to the first annual Pea Ridge Holiday Tournament with teams from varied and far-off places in town for the event.
From the Providence Patriots who come from nearby Rogers, to the Winnsboro Raiders who made a 310-mile trek to northwest Arkansas, the Hawks are hosting a lineup of eight teams. The Green Country Defenders are 122 miles away in Tulsa, Okla., but they are closer than the other five teams entered in the competition from Arkansas. The Mammoth Springs Bears are 185 miles away, with the Horatio Lions 221 miles out, and the Robinson Senators 222 miles distant. The Star City Bulldogs are almost as far as the Texas visitors, with their traveling 285 miles to Pea Ridge. Winnsboro is located about 100 miles west of Texarkana, Texas.
Pea Ridge opened the tourney Tuesday taking on the Horatio Lions, a team with an 11-3 record to date. Their three losses were to highly ranked teams in higher classifications being the 17-0 2A Marmaduke Greyhounds, the 7-2 Wynne Yellowjackets, and the 5-3 4A Magnolia Panthers. The Lions had three players at 5-10 with their leader Emma Ray leading the team with a 14-point per game average.
If the Hawks won their game Tuesday, they will be playing Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Green Country and Star City contest. Star City is 7-2 with both their losses coming against larger schools in 6A Marion and 4A Pulaski. They have three players at 5'10" or taller with five at 5'7". Green Country used to be a Christian Academy in Tulsa until it switched to a home school arrangement. Green Country is 5-3 with two of their losses against much larger Tulsa public school. If the Hawks lost, they will play at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon.
In the lower bracket Tuesday, Winnsboro played Providence with 1A Mammoth Springs taking on 4A Robinson. Winnsboro is ranked No. 6 in the state of Texas in its classification. There are likely more schools in any classification in Texas than the whole state of Arkansas combined. The Raiders were 14-4 before this week, averaging 63 points per contest while holding the opposition to just 37 points per game. Providence is 10-2 this season and own a 5-point victory over Pea Ridge recently.
Interestingly, Winnsboro didn't come all this way to just play in the tournament. This past Monday, they played the Cardinals of Farmington. With the No. 1 ranked Cardinals who sport a 17-0 record, the Raiders may have elected to play their toughest game before the tourney even started.
The Mammoth Springs Bears played in the nightcap Tuesday against Little Rock Robinson. Mammoth Springs is 14-5 with their losses against tough bigger teams like Paragould, Marmaduke and Valley View. The Bears are coming off a victory in a tournament last week with three of their players selected to the all-tourney team. Senior Bryann Washam (5'9") was the tournament's most valuable player. Watching some of the Bears' championship game. I noted they pushed the pace, could score from anywhere, passed the ball well, and were very tough on defense. The Senators are not having the best of seasons yet with only a 1-6 mark to date, but they have some athletes who could make a difference.
The final games of the tournament will be Thursday. The seventh-place playoff game will be 11:30 a.m., with the fifth-place game at 1 p.m. The third-place game will tip off at 2:30 p.m. and the championship final will take place at 4 p.m.