ROGERS — After watching game tape and pouring over scouting reports, Rogers High coach Preston Early knows that the Lady Mounties will have to be at their best over the next four days at the 21st annual GreenBank Classic.
Rogers opens the tournament in the eastern Tennessee town of Greeneville tonight against North Greene.
The 16-team tournament concludes Thursday. Rogers is guaranteed three games but could play a fourth with a victory on Wednesday or if the Lady Mounties advance to the semifinals.
Rogers is the first team invited from Arkansas and the field includes three ranked teams — two from Tennessee and one from Virginia — and three other squads are averaging more than 60 points a game.
Richmond Cosby is ranked No. 1 in Virginia and is on Rogers’ side of the bracket. The Lady Mounties’ second-round game will be against either Mt. Juliet, Tenn. or Dobyns-Bennett High from Kingsport, Tenn.
Mt. Juliet is averaging 69 points a game and is holding opponents to 36 points an outing. Dobyns-Bennett is ranked No. 2 in Division I Class AAA.
“We have some tape on them (North Greene) and you can tell it is high-level basketball,” Early said. “You can tell the coaching is very good. All the teams play up-tempo. We are going to have to respond to pressure defense, half-court trapping and stuff like that. We are putting this group (Rogers) into the frying pan.
“Every team is like us, they have high expectations and good players. We will have little margin for error and I like putting that type of pressure on them (Rogers). We are going to have to play well for 32 minutes, four days in a row.”
North Greene junior Mariah Britton is averaging 27 points a game over her last three outings and Early said the guard is one of the best 3-point shooters he has seen.
Early said senior Morgan Hook will get the defensive assignment on Britton. Hook has signed with Oklahoma and is just one of several players in the tournament that have signed or committed to major Division I programs.
“(Britton) is a really nice player,” Early said. “She is a playmaker and she is somebody that is going to challenge us. (Hook) always draws the toughest ones. Morgan tries to be great on both ends of the floor and she welcomes that challenge.”
Rogers will take just 12 players on the trip and Early said the Lady Mounties’ depth will be tested.
“Our bench is going to have to be big, playing four games in four days,” Early said. “This is the best possible team we could have taken to a tournament like this. We feel like we have nine, 10 players that are contributing.”
Rogers left early Sunday morning and practiced for almost two hours in Marion before going to lunch in Memphis. Dinner was scheduled to be in Knoxville before arriving in Greeneville.
Early, who is letting the team sleep in late today, said traveling such a long distance in a short span will be helpful when league play starts next month.
“It’s really big from a chemistry standpoint,” Early said. “You grow together and I think you become tighter because the players are going to be around each other for 24 hours a day. You grow from shared experiences.”