BENTONVILLE — Four games await several local teams at the 55th annual Neosho (Mo.) Holiday Classic.
The Farmington boys, Springdale girls, Rogers Heritage boys and Bentonville boys and girls all begin the busy week today.
"You’d rather be playing than practicing," said Springdale girls coach Scotty Person said. "This is such a great tournament because of the hospitality Neosho has, and all the competition is great. It’s something we’re going to need going into January."
Springdale opens the tournament at 6 p.m. against McDonald County, Mo. Most of the 16-team girls bracket will be played at Neosho Middle School.
The Bentonville Lady Tigers (6-3) open against Cassville, Mo., at 10:30 a.m.
Coach Tom Halbmaier knows playing four games in four days will force his team to make adjustments on the fly.
“It’s really going to challenge my girls coming off the Christmas break because boom boom boom, they have to compete,” he said.
The tough competition in Neosho will also be a good final test before 7A-West Conference play starts in January.
“We told our kids until we play Rogers (in the 7A-West opener) basically all we’re playing against is the name on the front of our jersey — Bentonville,” boys coach Jason McMahan said. “So it’s just like practice. We’re just getting better and better and better and hoping by the Rogers game we’ll be competitive and have a chance to win conference games.”
The Tigers (4-5) play host Neosho in today’s final game at Neosho High School, where most of the 16-team boys bracket will be played.
Rogers Heritage (3-7) opens with McDonald County at 7:30 p.m. The War Eagles are trying to avoid the offensive lulls that have cost them games.
“It seems like we have that one span of time each half where things get kind of hard,” coach Tom Olsen said. “We’ve got to keep playing all 32 minutes offensively and keep playing defense the way we’ve been playing.”
Farmington (10-1) plays at noon against Springfield (Mo.) Central.