ROGERS -- The luck of the draw for the first round of the First National Bank of Northwest Arkansas Great 8 Girls Basketball Classic wasn't kind to Rogers High as they will face a powerful Webb City, Mo., team tonight.
But Lady Mounties coach Preston Early is not complaining.
2014 First National Bank of NWA
Great 8 Girls Basketball Classic
at Rogers High
Today
Game 1: Greenwood vs. Camdenton, Mo., 4 p.m.
Game 2: Rogers Heritage vs. Beebe, 5:30 p.m.
Game 3: Rogers High vs. Webb City, Mo., 7 p.m.
Game 4: Fort Smith Southside vs. Ozark, Mo., 8:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 4 p.m.
Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 5:30 p.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 7 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 9: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 12 p.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 1:30 p.m.
Game 11: Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8, 3 p.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m.
Rogers and Webb City will play at 7 p.m. tonight at Rogers High while Rogers Heritage will take on Beebe at 5:30 p.m. Other first round games today have Greenwood playing Camdenton, Mo., at 4 p.m. while Fort Smith Southside takes on Ozark, Mo., at 8:30 p.m.
The Lady Mounties (2-1) will face a Webb City team that has advanced to the state tournament the past two years while compiling a 48-11 record. The Lady Cardinals, who were the Missouri Class 4A runner-up in 2013, opened the season Tuesday with a convincing win against Lamar, Mo.
Early said the game with the Lady Cardinals will be much like a 7A-West Conference game. Rogers will be playing without two-year returning starter Libby Ganoung. Ganoung suffered a knee injury last week and the results of the senior's MRI have not comeback but she is expected to be out for at least the next month.
"Webb City is really talented, offensively," Early said. "They have a post player that can score around the rim and they had three kids in double figures in the first game. They have a couple of guards that can shoot it well, and that puts a lot stress on your defense.
"We know that with our team we need to give them as many 7A-West type games that we can. This is exciting for us, and the more we can expose our players to 7A-West type basketball the better we will be in January. This is a chance to play a high-quality team."
Rogers Heritage (3-0) has started the season with an impressive string of victories that includes a come-from-behind win against Russellville and a overtime victory against Bryant. Beebe (0-2) has a pair of close losses to Vilonia and Nettleton.
"It's typical of the Great 8 Tournament, really, really good teams," said Heritage coach Kevin Ramey. "It will be a great early season test for everybody. We will see teams that play at a high level and compete at a high level. It's really good for growing your basketball team.
"We have some veterans back, but we have so many new players, young players. Every day, every game, we are getting a little bit better. This is going to be a great test for us."
Greenwood (4-0) is another strong team in the field as the Lady Bulldogs defeated Fayetteville 60-58 Saturday. Megan Hartness scored 30 points for Greenwood after making 10-of-15 shots from the field.
Ozark returns just one starter and three other players from a team that went 18-7 overall and 5-2 in the Central Ozarks Conference-Large Division last season. Makensi Taylor is the lone returning starter and she averaged 7.5 points and 2.7 rebounds last season.
Camdenton (0-1) opened the season with a 75-56 loss to Republic, Mo. Bailey Rezabek led the Lady Lakers with 15 points.
Sports on 12/04/2014